Master Works Raises Spirits During The COVID Crisis At Mount Sinai Hospital In Harlem

Sony World Open Photography Winner, Christy Lee Rogers, donated two artworks to Mount Sinai Hospital, 1468 Madison Avenue in Harlem, NY.

The masterworks were donated to help raise patients’ and staff morale.

This is what the co-director of their Covid team said: “The last months have been quite simply the craziest that any of my colleagues or I have ever experienced in our careers. In March, the new Neurosciences ICU where we hung your beautiful photograph was converted into a COVID ICU and has been used to treat some of the sickest patients in the hospital.

I would like you to know that the piece you donated to us has been a source of inspiration and comfort throughout this incredibly difficult time. I know you would be proud to see how the staff here came together to tackle this enormous challenge as well. Everyone from housekeepers to nurses, to the most senior physicians, pulled together to fight this illness for our community.

Co-Director Neurosciences Intensive Care Unit Assistant Professor Neurosurgery and Emergency Medicine
Mount Sinai Hospital.

This is the other of the two works Christy donated to Mount Sinai:

Christy said about the artwork above, which is titled Riders of the Light: “This image is a dedication to those that lost their lives, to the heroes, and to you. With wide eyes to see and open hearts to feel…”

Christy also donated $28,000 to the Coronavirus funds for Save the Children and No Kid Hungry from the sale of her Venus Rising print from her new underwater photography series HUMAN:

Inspired by Botticelli’s “The Birth of Venus” and the idea that contemplating her beauty is a way to elevate the human spirit and get closer to the divine, the image shows three figures lifting up and supporting the central character on a fabric created seashell.

A representation of humanity’s strength to come together to protect the beauty of our way of life, and the persistence of mankind during such a vulnerable time in history. Photographed underwater, the light illuminates the central figures through the darkness. A peaceful Venus appears to rise up unscathed into a moment of triumph.

Rogers says “I can not bear to see so much suffering in the world. It’s as if everything changed overnight. I couldn’t get any of my normal routines done, and the only thing that felt right and calmed me was to create. After finishing the ‘Venus Rising’ image, I started to feel hope again. I started to home school my son and to really see what was in front of me.

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So many people coming together to help, and all from a physical distance. And I truly believe that no matter what life may throw at us, we have the power to love, to create, and to dream up our future. No one– nothing can take that from us.”

Christy Lee Rogers is an international underwater artist who last year was selected as Open Photographer of the Year out of 274,000 entries for the Sony World Photography Award. She was commissioned by Apple to make a series of photographs using the iPhone 11Pro and Apple made a behind-the-scenes process film about her. The Independent of London compared her underwater photography to the works of Caravaggio, Delacroix, Rubens, and Titian.

CNN said, “Rogers is changing the way water is used in photography to create images that can easily be mistaken for paintings and that push the boundaries of reality.”

Photo credit: 1-4)  Christy Lee Rogers.