Turning day into night in an already dead city is how photographer Minik Bidstrup explored a new reality in New York during the peak of COVID-19. His project, Sila, delves into a disturbing psychological space intensified by the drastic changes to the city and its population. Awake during the night, the images were produced every day between 10 pm and 4 am and show a sense of confusion and lostness.

The project reflects on the empty city and the individual state of mind that tries to find meaning drifting through the streets. Sila is a Pan-Inuit word with a variety of meanings including consciousness, the universe, world, weather, air, and outside space.

Experimenting with very slow shutter speeds, the project depicts eerily lit scenes taking place in pitch darkness. The subjects become blurry characters—more spirit than human—not really present, but more figures in transit. What is the photographer’s relation to these figures? They could be strangers, friends, or both, we will never know as the style seems as much participating as impersonal.

The impulsive rawness of the images resonates with immediate reality, but their strangeness and striking contrast make them feel as magical as real—the perception of reality is relative.

The project consists of a video with a soundtrack that draws on the traditional storytelling of Greenland, such as drum dancing from eastern Greenland and throat singing from Nunavut. Through this storytelling, Minik succeeds in creating a mysterious world out of the seemingly ordinary—a world of gloom, alienation, and immense beauty.