How we Survived the Quarantine — in Portraits

Cornwall’s Lazlo Gyorsok spent the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic visiting (with masks and social distance) people in Cornwall, Conn., and seeing how they were spending time during the quarantine. The result is a collection of portraits called “While We Were Home,” now on display at the Cornwall Library in Cornwall. 

The photos can also be soon “virtually” at https://lazlo.us/home. You don’t need to know any of the people in the images to understand what they’re about; you see a little bit of all the characters who inhabit our part of the world. 

There are young farmers with big smiles, full of hope and aspiration; refugees from city life, adapting to wearing blue jeans every day as their new uniform, looking for a quieter life closer to the earth; there are men with big beards; older women who are still beautiful in spite of (or because of) a light reliance on cosmetics; confident youngsters; and dogs (lots of dogs). 

The subjects of the photos are identified but there isn’t any running text. Gyorsok’s wife, Christina, summed up what people told her husband as he photographed them: “While we were home, we made music and art, walked with or without our furry friends, biked, spent more time with our families, honored our fallen soldiers, farmed, welcomed newcomers, worshiped, volunteered to feed our neighbors, sacrificed our safety to do essential jobs, spent more time outdoors and found new ways to care for each other. While we were home, we did what we do best: We did ‘Cornwall.’”

The library show will remain up until Nov. 14. Any of the pictures can be purchased, framed, at the Housatonic Fine Art and Framing shop in Cornwall Bridge for $125; of that, $25 will be donated to the Cornwall Food and Fuel Fund.

For information on hours and COVID-19 protocols, go to www.cornwalllibrary.org.