
INTERVIEW
August 30, 2021
QUARANTINE IN QUEENS
Photography by Neil Kramer
Interview by Karin Svadlenak Gomez
Neil Kramer tells stories - with his photos, writing, and films. Humorous and compassionate at the same time, he tackles themes taken directly from human life - including his own. When he found himself locked into a small apartment in Queens, New York, with his mother and ex-wife during the still ongoing Covid-19 pandemic he ended up making the best of the situation: he turned it into a quirky and humorous photo project. His posts of portraits showing the family in often strange situations went viral on social media platforms and have been widely featured on television and in newspapers, and won many awards. We are honoured that Neil agreed to an interview for The Pictorial List, in which he talks to our editor Karin Svadlenak Gomez, about his project QUARANTINE IN QUEENS and how he and his family have been dealing with the pandemic.

“During the early days of the pandemic, it became impossible to do street photography, so it seemed natural to start taking photos of our lives inside the apartment. At the time, Queens, NY was the epicenter of the pandemic in America, and it was scary. Taking the photos became a collaborative way of using art as self-therapy, much in the same way that others started baking bread or knitting sweaters. And because I had some experience in comedy writing in California, I tended to gravitate towards the humor of the situation, at least at first.”
IN CONVERSATION WITH NEIL KRAMER
THE PICTORIAL LIST: Neil please tell us about yourself. When and how did you become interested in photography?
NEIL KRAMER: I’ve always loved photography, but I’ve had more of a career as a writer. I lived in Los Angeles for several years, writing and developing scripts for TV and movies. I also attended film school at USC where I studied film production. I began to fully immerse myself in still photography when I moved back to New York and got hooked on street photography.
TPL: How did it happen that you ended up in quarantine with your ex-wife and mother?
NK: It’s a complicated story, but let’s just say that I was living in my apartment while my mother was in Boca Raton, Florida, but she decided to come back after her lease expired. At the same time, my ex-wife had a plumbing disaster in Los Angeles and she had to move, so she asked if she could stay with me for a few weeks. And then the pandemic happened, and we all got stuck together. And we are still together in this rather tiny apartment with only one bathroom, trying to figure out our next step.
TPL: What triggered the idea for this photo project? And what did your ex-wife and mother think when you presented them with this project idea?
NK: During the early days of the pandemic, it became impossible to do street photography, so it seemed natural to start taking photos of our lives inside the apartment. At the time, Queens, NY was the epicenter of the pandemic in America, and it was scary. Taking the photos became a collaborative way of using art as self-therapy, much in the same way that others started baking bread or knitting sweaters. And because I had some experience in comedy writing in California, I tended to gravitate towards the humor of the situation, at least at first.
My ex-wife and mother already knew that I always had wacky creative ideas, so they were comfortable in playing along. But as the project got more followers on Instagram and we got some media attention, such as in the Washington Post and the Today Show, it became a little more difficult in dealing with the attention.
The series was never intended as a project. It just happened, without a plan. I never expected this pandemic to go on for over 500 days! Usually the daily post was based on a real life experience, which we would restage later in the day when we had more perspective and time.






























