‘mouth mask’
because this is a subject that keeps me very busy at this Corona time. It is now entirely an issue because, since 1 December, there has been an obligation to wear mouth mask in public places in the Netherlands.
Anecdote: my experience at the academy. At the academy I spoke to a deaf boy and we communicated our way with support through sign language and we took off our mouth masks so that we could see and understand each other’s expressions. Then we were addressed by the guardian of the academy, in a not friendly way she told us that we had to wear our mouth masks. I explained to her why it is essential for us to understand each other, and she did not even apologise. I was sorry about that and I did not expect it, rather I would say sorry that it has to be this way or say in a more understanding way that it should not be. And it will not be the first and only time. I find it difficult to deal with that. When I tell someone I don’t understand them, they can’t see from my face that I mean it. When I then ask them to take off their masks from a distance I sometimes get a questionable face or a reaction as to why you do that. What I experience is that many people are quite ignorant. Maybe it has to do with the fact that everyone is more difficult to understand each other because of the mouth mask. The word transparent appealed to me on this subject. I started thinking about it and I started making sketches by means of collages. However, I was still missing something in the sketches and started discussing it with some people from the academy. That gave me the idea of making my own ‘masks’.
2020
