Time - USA (2020-12-21)

Photos

of the year

The images—some stirring, some haunting,

all indelible—that defined the year, in the

words of the photographers who made them

‘SHE DIDN’T WANT TO LET GO’

On May 24, photographer Al Bello’s sister

called to say her in-laws would be visiting in

Wantagh, N.Y., and wanted to hug everyone;

a drop cloth hung from a clothesline would

serve as a barrier. Curious, he stopped by.

After Mary Grace Sileo met her grandson at

the “hug station,” she began to cry. “Whoa,”

Bello remembers thinking, “this escalated

quickly.” He captured the embraces over

45 minutes, including that of Sileo and

granddaughter Olivia Grant, shown here.

“They were long hugs,” he says.

PHOTOGRAPH BY AL BELLO—GETTY IMAGES