Coronavirus in Argentina | A daughter’s hug to a sick father has become a touching Christmas postcard

Many images marked this atypical 2020. Shortly after the end of the year, the agency EFE chose an emotional photograph of a hug between a daughter and her sick father coronavirus as a Christmas postcard to honor those most affected by the pandemic.

“Nothing will stop us from hugging each other for Christmas. With the desire for a 2021 full of health and prosperity ”, is the text accompanying the photograph of Sebastiao Moreira.

The protagonist of the image, Maria Claudia de Moraes, he did not see his father, Wanderley, over a hundred days ago. The man lives in a retirement home for the elderly in the Brazilian city of São Paulo.

// Christmas in a pandemic: an opportunity for a better rebirth

Thanks to a “Curtain of hugs” – as is the case with the protagonists -, a glass, a plastic or a virtual connection, the agency wants this gesture to be seen as a symbol which brings hope towards 2021.

The Hug Curtain was an initiative created in the “Anni Azurri Vida e Lar para Idosos” asylum to alleviate the social distancing measures imposed during the pandemic. “It was my first time there testimony of love and hope on photographic cover during the coronavirus in Brazil, ”said Moreira.

The president of the agency Gabriela Cañas He stressed that beyond the large number of photographs that will remain for the memory of this stage, “there are few who say the same with so little, in a year when happiness was counted differently and where it was the most precious asset ”. “I want the image to be broadcast remember the victims, the sick, the relatives, the nursing staff and to all the assets of society which has fought and fought daily against the virus ”, he added.

// Coronavirus | Protocol for the holidays: how meetings should be at Christmas and New Year

Moreira’s snapshot was one of 120 selected to be exhibited at the “Seoul International Photojournalism Exhibition” and was also chosen as a representative image for the official exhibition poster, titled “2020 of new hope”.

About the photographer

With nearly 30 years of experience, Moreira began her career as a photographer in 1994 in newspapers Sao Paulo State, Jornal da Tarde and State agency. He works at EFE since 2006.

He has covered the Football World Cups in Germany, Brazil and Russia, as well as visits by various political and religious authorities to the country, including US presidents. George W. Bush and Barack Obama, as well as the potatoes Benedict XVI and Francisco. He also participated, among other things, in the coverage of the Pan American Games and the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

The agency’s Christmas greetings have been translated into English, French, Portuguese, Catalan, Basque and Galician. For the first time, it has also been versioned in a small format so that it can be sent via WhatsApp.