Surgical masks have quickly become both everywhere and nowhere. They can be seen on most people walking down the street, on grocery checkout clerks, even statues have makeshift masks covering their noses and mouths. We see masks on healthcare workers, on people in the news, on protesters, on famous people’s selfies they post on instagram. Directions on how to make your own mask litter facebook, twitter, youtube, TikTok and instagram. And yet, masks are sold out in every store and we hear constantly about the shortage of masks. To quote a New York Times article, “If there is a symbol of the current confusion and fear, the misinformation and anxiety, generated by the spread of the new coronavirus, it is the surgical face mask” (Friedman).
The imagery of surgical masks has come to represent COVID19 in a way that no other object has. Because the virus we are facing is intangible and cannot be seen, it is the imagery of masked faces and people clad in personal protective equipment that is used to visualize this pandemic. In the book No Caption Needed, Robert Hairman and John Louis Lucaites, discuss iconography; “the iconic image is a moment of visual eloquence, but it never is obtained through artistic experimentation… the knowledge disseminated, examined, or gained, through performance occurs only in respect to what has already become commonly reprehensible to a community” (Hairman et al., 30-32). This is to say that in order for something to become an icon, it has to occur naturally--it is rarely constructed, and if it is engineered it is done so to carefully mimic things that people generally already are familiar with. The mask has become a symbol for the pandemic because we already saw masks as a symbol of health or sickness from their use in healthcare, so we are already acquainted with the object. Additionally, masks hide almost half of a person’s face, which is scary--without faces, it is hard to read expressions and hard to know who is who--and also can be understood as comforting, the way a child buries their face during a scary movie. In a time of panic, where the country seems to be struggling with who to listen to and who to turn to for guidance, a medicalized item covering peoples face feels like the perfect embodiment of the complexity and uncertainty in our feelings.
“[Masks] have represented safety and protection from disease and pollution; solidarity; protest; racism; a fashion trend; and now, pandemic. They have been, said Christos Lynteris, a medical anthropologist at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, a sign of “something that hides but also communicates” this communication and silence the surgical mask represents is very dependent on context (Friedman). In history, a mouth being covered is often a sign of oppression, a sign that many Americans view it as to this day. However, a mouth covering during the pandemic is being viewed by many Americans as a sign of protection and care for people around them, almost as if to recognize common humanity. Some may even see it as spreading misinformation, “And given the medical messages about masks and the new coronavirus, and the fact they don’t necessarily work as a barrier for healthy people… could also be seen as spreading misinformation” (Friedman).
With a shortage of masks, the act of wearing a mask has become not only a symbol of status; either as someone with the means to secure a scarce resource, or as an essential worker putting your life on the front lines. However, with conservative leader Donald Trump refusing to wear masks, and laughing at those who choose to, masks have become a political object as well, and in turn the COVID19 pandemic has become political. Hairman et al points out the importance of iconic imagery for politicians, “performance is also an act having political consequences… professional politicians are well aware of this fact, which is why specific images are continually being used (or avoided) to advance partisan interests” (Hairman et al., 33). Interestingly, Trump and many right-wing politicians refuse to be seen wearing masks or be photographed next to people wearing masks. It seems that Trump, in particular, is working hard to avoid using the iconic image of the face mask, perhaps in an attempt to distance himself from the pandemic and the harm that inadequate timely measures of social distancing have caused to the economy. Nonetheless, whether or not politicians choose to embrace the masked imagery representing the coronavirus pandemic, it seems to speak volumes about their approach to politics during the pandemic.
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