“In the fourteen billion years between the big bang and the autumn of 1957, space was pristine,” Khatchadourian writes. Now, however, there are millions of human artifacts orbiting the Earth; “we live,” he observes, “in a corona of trash.” If not addressed, high-speed collisions caused by this pollution could mean catastrophe for satellites, and might prohibit our use of near-Earth space. Readers moving through this feature float in a starry sky, periodically encountering bits of junk, as well as video of the technology being designed to retrieve debris and stave off disaster.
Visual and interactive storytelling also put more immediate matters into context this year. Early in the summer, during the historic protests that followed the police killing of George Floyd, Nelson painted a powerful cover for our June 22nd issue. In “Say Their Names,” Floyd embodies America’s long history of anti-Black violence. A reader examining the painting encounters other Black victims of racism and police brutality, learning about the circumstances of their deaths and the often negligible consequences for their attackers. As Nelson told Christiane Amanpour, the cover is “a memorial of sorts, and a history lesson.”
As the coronavirus pandemic peaked in New York City during the spring, The New Yorker embarked on one of the most ambitious multimedia collaborations in its history. For “April 15, 2020: A Coronavirus Chronicle,” nearly fifty writers and photographers spread out across the five boroughs to document twenty-four hours in what was then the epicenter of the pandemic. The story weaves together scenes of doctors and nurses tending to patients; a worker arriving for his shift at a fulfillment center; a restaurateur preparing takeout orders; a woman delivering her son, Christopher, via C-section; and dozens more New Yorkers coping with their new reality. As the reader moves through each vignette, the progression of the day is reflected in the article’s visual presentation. The background color shifts by the hour, from the darkness of midnight to the golden hues of daylight, on through sunset and the radiant city lights of the night. The accompanying photography and video—in their breadth of style, composition, and vibrancy—bear witness to the suffering and resiliency of a city in crisis.
