Year of the Rat Masks
hell money, various dimensions, 2020
Inspired by the untimely spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus over the Spring Festival period, this series of face masks were carefully constructed from “hell money” (sacrificial paper money, usually burned in memory to ancestors as part of Spring Festival).
The artist combines two of the 2020 Lunar New Year’s motifs - the face mask and hell money - to create a work that echoes the anxieties of a country that is supposed to be in celebration.
The work was also inspired by the obvious environmental and health concerns around the large scale ceremonial burning of hell money and joss paper.
“I was in Guangxi when the virus hit; away from home and worried hearing reports of the virus reaching towns closer and closer to the one I was staying in. I had the idea to create a mask using the material I had been becoming interested in. I found the process of working with the paper and creating a suitable design slowly and carefully with my hands to be one in which my anxieties began to dissolve.”
Year of the Rat Masks: Home Quarantine
As the outbreak stretched into its third month, measures to control the epidemic in China saw mass quarantine efforts, communities locked down, semesters delayed and communities restricting the number of family members and the frequency with which they were able to leave their homes.
This mask work is made from a packet of sunflower seed snacks, reflecting the experience shared by billions of people of voluntary or forced home quarantine.
“These sunflower seeds are always the thing I reach for when I need to pass the time, and a lot were eaten during my isolation back in Xiamen.”
Year of the Rat Masks: Yorkshire Tea
17 March 2020
As the severity of the pandemic grew in the artist’s native UK, this piece was constructed from Yorkshire Tea packaging, which famously features watercolour artwork of the Yorkshire countryside. The work evokes ideas of “home” and the British convention of drinking tea in times of crisis.
“With the current flight restrictions and travel bans, the distance from home feels greater than it did. The virus appeared to be under control in China just as the situation was worsening in the UK. The British government’s inconsistent advice on the use of face masks, and the evidence that the initial advice may have been given due to poorly managed pandemic PPE stockpiling, has also been frustrating to observe from a distance .”
Year of the Rat Masks: McMask
The golden arches are spliced between the English and Chinese for “Big Mac”, each section visually disrupted, isolated yet interconnected.
This work was made as the virus ravaged New York and the United States became the world leader in Covid-19 deaths.
As a symbol of globalism and capitalism, McDonald's reminds us of the fragilities of globalized supply chains and economies during a pandemic.
“As a symbol of the US, I was inspired to use McDonald's packaging for this mask as that seems to be a country where lockdown has and will create some of the most visible economic distress and civil unrest, which should help us think harder about the relationships between public health, social safety-nets and human flourishing.”
