Fittingly, 2020 became the year many discovered a new way to fend off germs and viruses. Mouth-nose coverings or masks became statements of survival, defiance, fashion or hot potatoes, politically. Societies clamored for a better supply, governments paid millions to have these items shipped as quickly as possible. On my walks I noticed how many of these valuable items ended up at the side of the street. No longer needed, cast off, dumped. What used to be precious and life-saving soon became unwanted and useless. Nature has a hard way to digest these products. They get wet and dirty, crumpled and overgrown. As relics of the pandemic they will remind us of these troublesome days for a long time.
On some days I would stumble upon as many as twenty masks along a stretch of fence. Poor neighborhoods were richer in discarded masks. Some were of the most common and cheapest make, but others were made of fabric. Their wearers felt they did not need them anymore. Or they fell out of a bag or a pocket. This is my project: a memorial to a pandemic.
