I just saw this article on the BBC’s website about a photograph. It was eventually used by an article called “The Big Empty,” which shared photos of how empty things were during the pandemic and lockdowns. This particular picture was taken in February or 2020, very early on, but in Beijing, where people were staying home even before the lockdowns became literal.
The photographer, Gilles Sabrié, took it through the window of a bar in what is normally a busy tourists center. Around dinner time, the streets should have been full of people and the bars pumping loud music in a competition to attract customers. All were empty and with their lights off except one.
The moment captured is supposed to speak of isolation and uncertainty, and the hollowness of a city without its inhabitants. I didn’t see that. I did see what most will: the longer you look the more you see. The eye will either be drawn to the main subject in the center of to the cat in the foreground. You can quickly notice the simple meal being eaten, or that the man is looking at his phone, and eventually you will see the bar behind and the boxes stacked around on different tables.
Photo: Gilles Sabrié
If you’re like me you’ll also notice a motorcycle to the far left, which is certainly the most out-of-place item. For me that is when the photo comes together. Here is some random guy in China with a full bar, a simple meal, a cat, and a motorcycle…this guy is living the dream.
The photo is supposed to speak to the emptiness of a city where all the people are locked away, and instead it calls out to me that my needs are simple, and the less I have, the better I feel. But there are needs and wants of course. But a cat, a motorcycle, a simple meal, and a bar is a pretty low bar when you look at material needs.
In fact, all of those are more powerful for their emotional offering than physical. There are other pets you can have, many ways to travel around, and as much as I love a cold beer, I don’t need alcohol, let alone a full bar. The photo is one of peace and contentment in the moment to me, instead of what is missing. What’s really missing when a tourist trap is closed?
The tourists sure, and the economic activity that drives the places and people…those are missing. But I don’t miss them. Emptiness is a feeling as well as a state, so you can feel it in a crowded bar with hundreds of people, dancing and shouting over loud music; they are some of the emptiest places I’ve ever been.
Johnny Killmore 