Photographs of faces with no mouth. Life in Košice during the pandemic.

I decided to take a walk down the Košice city centre to document life during the corona pandemic. I’m imagining myself looking at the pictures I took yesterday in a decade, with my head shaking in disbelief, thinking, how crazy were these days.

Slovak people tend to be distant from each other, they are often seriously divided in their political standpoints and many times forget to be generous towards each other.

Only a month ago, when the parliamentary election campaign was peaking, we were yelling at each other, some people didn’t hesitate to punch a fellow citizen. We had nothing for each other but anger.

We all were so immersed in hate towards everyone around: The blacks, the whites, the roma minority, the liberals, the fascists, the social democrats.

And here we are now. Thinking what would we give to see anyone smile. Everything and anything. Everything, just so we didn’t have to guess our friends’ emotions just from their eyes. Anything just so we could simply see people we love and hang out, watch a movie, go to our favourite pub. We would give everything and anything to be able to argue about our differences which seem so stupid now, just to have a conversation face to face.

A bus driver in Košice with a face mask.

People waiting in front of the bakery, to buy pastry.

Pharmacy: Face masks and disinfectants out of stock.

Winery blocking the entrance to the shop with a chair.

A couple in face masks walking down the street.

People in Košice city centre walking in face masks.