Imagery of crowds and mass gatherings has been the focal point of Michel Comte’s work for many years now. Particularly powerful are the yearly Easter blessings in the Vatican City; the papal conclaves with aerial views of all the gathered cardinals have not changed since the Middle Ages. From Shibuya’s crossings to New York’s Times Square; from the Hajj in Mecca, to Woodstock, the World Cup final, and the Italian Grand Prix; from the March on Washington with Martin Luther King, to Hong Kong in 2019–2020—each of these places attracts enormous crowds approaching a point of imminent danger that have led to catastrophic events in the past.

In November 2019 the first cases of COVID-19 were reported in the city of Wuhan in Hubei province; in the months since, our world has changed. Social distancing has become the new norm and our entire perspective towards gathering, meeting and closeness have taken on different meanings. Suddenly, images of crowds look unfamiliar. The dots are drifting apart.