Images of the emptied society. Alicante (Spain), local and global example of the consequences of the coronavirus

The starting hypothesis of this article is that the confinement suffered by the Spanish population during COVID-19 has brought at least three important consequences. The first, that the cities -Alicante, between them- and the Spanish towns were deserted, so that, in a certain sense, society was also emptied. The second, that the shelterdwellings expanded their traditional functions and assumed new ones, becoming “World-Homes”. And, third, that individualism and “communitas” have been reinforced, along with fear of Society, Nature and History. This starting hypothesis is confirmed, with nuances, by the content analysis of 14 photographs selected from hundreds, which the photojournalist, Rafa Arjones, from the newspaper Información, carried out during the confinement of Alicante (in phase 0, which lasted from March 14 to May 18, 2020). This city of 330,000 inhabitants is the capital of a dynamic province, located in the southeast of Spain. And, for this, we will use hermeneutics, concretized by linking three methods of image analysis: Panofsky's iconological analysis, K. Mannheim's documentary method and Visual Framing from Communication. In addition, these images will be contrasted with other 17 published in various media in Spain and the world, so that Alicante represents a local and, at the same time, global case of the impact of the pandemic on society.