The Mask Series by Michelle Lowe Holder
It seems like masks may become as common as sunglasses - for quite a while at least. Given the speed and unpredictability of government pronouncements (let alone of COVID-19 itself) sometimes, it feels better to err on the side of caution. Healthy citizens don’t need to wear masks but findings also suggest that potentially 25% of infected individuals are asymptomatic so hey ho.
For everyday use - rather than front-line healthcare use - conventional fabrics like cotton work just fine. And for those of us not handy with the needle and thread, more and more designers are stepping up to make them. In the UK, we’d like to thank designers Vin & Omi and online ethical retailer sojustshop.com for their beautiful offerings, made from upcycled fabrics.
Meanwhile, artist and maker Michelle Lowe-Holder is devoting her instagram page to the most imaginative masks she can find: “I have become completely obsessed with the global mask making phenomena due to Covid-19,” she says.
“Certain trends and ideas have come to light and it is astonishing, on an international level, how we are all trying to protect our health however and whoever we are … We are all together on this - and masks are suddenly a universal integral part of 2020 all over the world.”
Instances range from the kitsch by Central Saint Martins alumni Anne Sophie Cochevelou to the stylish, as worn by actress Tracee Ellis Ross; from the disturbingly organic masks of American artist Casey Curran to the craft-based constructions of Berlin designer Nastia Pilepchuk. “I have mixed masks and mask imagery from all levels of making from incredible skilled artists, artisans and designers to home sewers and crafters,” says Lowe-Holder.
It’s not just artists tackling the issue. “Some of the most poignant images are the innovations from people making from just what is available - and, in turn, creative problem-solving in amazing and surprising ways!” says Lowe-Holder. In Kenya, one man turns a cabbage leaf into a makeshift mask while in Chile and China, plastic water bottles discover a new purpose in life. They say necessity is the mother of invention.
Follow Michelle Lowe-Holder on Instagram for more.
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