Deserted streets of Design District Miami during quarantine

The Miami Design District (MDD) is a heaven for art enthusiasts, collectors, and the fashion-forward crowd. MDD is popular for the art, high-end boutiques, galleries, restaurants, bars, and design & architecture firms.

You will never spend a day roaming about the paved roads zigzagging around aesthetically pleasing boutiques, breathtaking galleries, and exquisite restaurants without bumping into the crowd at some point; however, this was a different day in a different world. I photographed the Miami Design District during the quarantine.

Capturing the new face of Miami Design District

The Covid-19 or Wuhan virus pandemic has taken the world by storm and China is going to lose millions of manufacturing jobs because of it but this is another topic. Almost every industry is at a standstill but that will change in most states but not the ones ran by zealots like Michigan’s job destroying governor – she is really proving how diabolical she is. Beauty, luxury, art, and architecture are mirroring the current sentiment, and so are the empty streets. I will not lie; the streets were neither completely devoid of cars nor devoid of people.

However, the small groups I saw wandering the streets were either out to exercise or walk their dogs or to get their essential supplies. No one was out to shop their hearts out, but the jarring experience I had was that there were more people out and about than is expected under current circumstances.

The green of the trees, the yellow of the fallen leaves, the orange of the gleaming sunlight making its way through the trees lining the concrete paths were creating a beautiful contrast.

Since there were few people to dilute the scenery, you could truly see the clash of the cool grey toned architecture, warm interiors, and a wash of exuberant scenic beauty. The big beautifully decorated boutiques and galleries seemed lonely, and the restaurants, that once the hot spot for visitors and locals alike seemed desolate.

The last word

I saw a different MDD, not what I had expected, still melancholic. There was no lack of light or glamour, and there were people, people who I did not expect to see, even people because of whom I could not take more pictures of the beautiful deserted streets, but the whole picture still seemed skewed. The look might not have changed, the feelings, however, were another story altogether.

Photo credit: Olga Kulakova