Abstract

Since April 2020, the U.S. Center for Disease Control has asked for people to wear face masks in public to curb the spread of COVID-19. This shift has given rise to a mass movement of cloth mask making. Artists have leapt into action to produce masks for healthcare and frontline workers or as an alternative economy for lost income, while others customize masks to communicate identity, beliefs, or concerns. Mask making has also raised questions about the future of fashion with regards to health and sustainability.

Through a series of conversations, experts from the arts, fashion, sustainability, and medical fields were invited to talk about the variety of issues, and questions this moment of mask making and wearing have produced. In May 2019, Kate Kretz skyrocketed into the international media when she was banned from Facebook for her now infamous MAGA Hat series.¹ (Figures 1 and 2) Kretz’s artwork draws direct parallels between known symbols of fascism, oppression, and racism, and former President Trump’s branding, specifically his campaign slogan “Make America Great Again.” Using counterfeit MAGA hats, Kretz deconstructs and reconfigures this widely popularized consumer merchandise to “function as corrective physical manifestations of the truth.”² In her most recent addition to the series, Kretz has created Social Murder, a critique of the Trump administrations management of the COVID-19 pandemic.

摘要

自 2020 年 4 月以来，美国疾病控制中心已要求人们在公共场合戴口罩，以遏制 COVID-19 的传播。这种转变引发了布口罩制作的大规模运动。艺术家们纷纷采取行动，为医疗保健和一线工人生产口罩，或者作为收入损失的替代经济，而其他人则定制口罩来传达身份、信仰或担忧。面具制作也引发了人们对时尚在健康和可持续性方面的未来的质疑。

通过一系列的对话，邀请了来自艺术、时尚、可持续发展和医学领域的专家，就各种各样的问题进行了讨论，以及在口罩制作和佩戴这一时刻产生的问题。2019 年 5 月，凯特·克雷茨 (Kate Kretz) 因现在臭名昭著的MAGA 帽子系列而被 Facebook 禁止访问，从而在国际媒体上一举成名。¹（图 1 和图 2） Kretz 的艺术作品直接将法西斯主义、压迫和种族主义的已知象征与前总统特朗普的品牌，特别是他的竞选口号“让美国再次伟大”相提并论。使用假冒的 MAGA 帽子，Kretz 解构并重新配置了这种广泛流行的消费品，以“作为真相的纠正性物理表现”。²在她最近加入的系列剧中，克雷茨创作了《社会谋杀》，这是对特朗普政府对 COVID-19 大流行的管理的批评。