The New York photography community is coming together to help raise funds for Elmhurst Hospital Center in Queens, which is currently at the center of the city’s COVID-19 outbreak.

Collated under the title “Pictures for Elmhurst,” prints from 96 artists working in fine art and commercial photography will be sold for $150 each, with the money collected going directly to Elmhurst Hospital. The funds will be used by the hospital to purchase medical equipment. Featuring a mix of portraits and atmospheric captures from artists such as including Tyler Mitchell, Drew Jarrett, Peter Sutherland and Justine Kurland, the prints will be available to purchase as part of the initiative April 10-20.

The fundraiser, which raised $90,000 within its first few hours, grew from New York-based photographer Samantha Casolari’s participation in a similar artist-backed initiative for Pope John XXIII Hospital in Bergamo, Italy. The fundraiser featured 100 photographers and raised €727,600 over a span of 10 days.

“The most difficult thing as this lockdown began was feeling powerless to help,” Casolari said. “I was stuck at home in New York City with a 21-month-old baby, unable to go outside due to an invisible threat. I am originally from Italy, and took part in a beautiful fundraiser last week where Italian and international photographers donated work to raise funds for the intensive care units at a hospital in Bergamo overwhelmed by COVID-19.”

She continued: “The project was extremely successful, so I wanted to repeat it here for Elmhurst Hospital Center, which is at the center of the pandemic in New York City and in dire need of support.”

Elmhurst is one of three hospitals serving Queens, which has been particularly hard-struck by the COVID-19 outbreak. As the New York Times reported Thursday, the hospital has seen an overwhelming surge in patients since the virus took hold in New York. With vital supplies running out, the 545-bed facility faces strain.

“As of early April, patients and difficult outcomes have skyrocketed,” a spokesperson at Elmhurst Hospital said. “This has taken a devastating toll on front-line staff. In addition to the sheer exhaustion of caring for so many critically ill patients, our doctors and nurses fear for their own safety and that of their families. Many are also experiencing moral distress in the face of so many lost — in many instances, with family members never having a chance to say goodbye.”

The spokesperson at the city-run hospital stated that the funds raised by “Pictures for Elmhurst” will add “desperately needed supplies for those on the front lines fighting the virus.”

While the project is entirely volunteer and nonprofit-based, $15 per picture will go toward the production costs of printing the photographs. The prints will be printed and shipped by Brooklyn-based Griffin Editions once the photography lab reopens and returns to normal working hours. Each photograph purchased measures in at 8.5 x 11 inches, with some variables available depending on the photograph.

“It is inspiring to know that such talented photographers and artists ‘have our back,’” the Elmhurst Hospital spokesperson said, continuing, “and are keeping our staff and community in mind during this terribly difficult time.”

Top Image: "Cupcake Bike." Photo: Cheryl Dunn.