Especially at the beginning of the pandemic, people talked about death rates, occupancy rates in intensive care units and new infections. According to Andreas Seibert, there was little discussion about the medium and long-term consequences of COVID-19 for those affected, the healthcare system and the society.
Five years after the start of the pandemic, Long COVID and ME/CFS represent a major challenge for the healthcare system: There is still a lack of political will to provide research funding and to support those affected in their dreadful situation.
The photo book "Über Sehen Über Leben" sheds light on people affected by Long COVID and ME/CFS in a special way. On the cover of the book is a black rectangle; it represents the emptiness that is left behind when people disappear from society due to invisible illnesses such as Long COVID and ME/CFS.
The portraits show affected people in their home environment, which they are often no longer able to leave due to their illness. They capture the severity of this illness in a depressing yet honest way. The portraits are deliberately not accompanied by any text on a double page; they speak for themselves. On the following pages, detailed texts in German and English recount the personal experience of the person portrayed, based on conversations that Andreas Seibert had with those affected.
The portraits are interspersed with pictures of the Swiss landscape, showing what many people with these diseases miss every day. In addition, around 30 quotes and thoughts from a person suffering from ME/CFS describe impressions and emotions that will sound familiar to many of those affected.
The book concludes with three scientific contributions: on the pandemic from a Swiss perspective (Prof. Dr. Kaspar Staub), the current state of research on Long COVID (Prof. Dr. Milo Puhan) and on ME/CFS (Young EMERG).
With over 400 pages, the photo book is an extensive work. All of the people portrayed in the book have a medically confirmed diagnosis for either Long COVID or ME/CFS, many of them in combination.
Making visible what you can't see.
Andreas Seibert sees his work as a way of creating an image of an almost invisible disease and a voice for those affected by it. His book aims to be a photographic document, a contemporary witness for future generations.
More information about this work is available on the website www.ueber-sehen-ueber-leben.com, where the book can be pre-ordered now; it will be available from the second half of April and will be sent out in the sequence in which orders are received. It will also be available in selected bookshops later this year.
