Photos: The Great Emptiness of Grounds
![view of McIntire Amphitheater](/sites/default/files/empty_grounds_ss_02_header_standard_feature.jpg)
McIntire Amphitheater, normally filled with food trucks and students studying in the spring sunshine, is deserted.
If it can be said that students are the lifeblood of the University of Virginia, then the grand spaces on Grounds that they move through daily are the ventricles, the large chambers in the heart that collect and push out blood as it moves through the body.
Each successive week that I have put together a photo essay documenting this strange time, the Grounds has gotten quieter. This week, I decided to focus on the vast emptiness of these spaces.
With the exception of those working hard at UVA Health, most students, faculty and staff are at home, doing their best to keep themselves and others safe and wait out this COVID-19 pandemic. The spaces they normally fill – from the iconic Rotunda to vast lecture halls and sports stadiums – stand empty, awaiting their return.
I doubt, in its 200-year history, the University has ever been quieter.
![empty Hallway with large floor to ceiling paintings on the wall](/sites/default/files/empty_grounds_ss_03_inline_01.jpg)
![Empty lecture hall](/sites/default/files/empty_grounds_ss_06_inline_02.jpg)
![View of Cabell hall from the Rotunda](/sites/default/files/empty_grounds_ss_01_inline_03_0.jpg)
![empty auditorium](/sites/default/files/empty_grounds_ss_11_inline_04.jpg)
![Empty Stadium seating](/sites/default/files/empty_grounds_ss_14_inline_05.jpg)
![Empty green tennis courts](/sites/default/files/empty_grounds_ss_16_inline_06_0.jpg)
![empty lounge area in a building on Grounds](/sites/default/files/empty_grounds_ss_10_inline_07.jpg)
![Rotunda Hall empty as seen from the podium](/sites/default/files/empty_grounds_ss_13_inline_08.jpg)
![Empty parking garage](/sites/default/files/empty_grounds_ss_15_inline_09.jpg)
![Empty carpeted hallway with two stair cases one on each side](/sites/default/files/empty_grounds_ss_12_inline_10.jpg)
![Empty hallway with seating on the right side](/sites/default/files/empty_grounds_ss_05_inline_11.jpg)
![brick Building on grounds that has no people walking on its sidewalks](/sites/default/files/empty_grounds_ss_08_inline_12.jpg)
![Looking down a lecture hall to the podium but the hall is empty](/sites/default/files/empty_grounds_ss_04_inline_13.jpg)
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July 26, 2024