Masked Portraits, Akerman

 

Subject: Viviana Acheen (my mother) Occupation: Pathologist

"I have less cases to read because patients are afraid of undergoing procedures to get biopsies. It's hard for me to breathe when I'm looking at cases because of the mask interfering with the microscope lens. In my regular life, it was nice having all of my kids at my home but social distancing is hard for me and I felt isolated from the rest of my friends and family. We couldn't go to Argentina and spend time with them. It's difficult to not be able to say hi to people how I regularly do and it's difficult not having the items I usually purchase be available at the grocery store. The best thing was being able to have all of my children back home again."

Subject: Dr. Fernando Akerman (my father) Occupation: Obstetrician-Gynecologist, Fertility & IVF Center of Miami
"The month of April was the worst month ever for our practice that opened in 1991, if you consider the extremely low number of patients seen, consults, procedures, and revenue generated. We had to furlough a third of our employees. The other that remained in the practice had their hours cut in half to be able to remain open. For me and my partner, the owners of the practice, we had absolutely no income for approximately two and a half months."

Subject: Matías Akerman (my brother) Occupation: Student and Basketball Player
"I now have to practice with my brother in the backyard. I used to practice with my trainer on actual basketball courts and I can't play in any leagues that I wish to play in. It makes me sad because I want to continue playing organized basketball where I can get continuously better."