Jan Descartes

Mask Up

Jan Descartes

Mask Up

Date

2022

Edition Size

50

Media

Digital print, Fabric, Silkscreen, Transfer letters, Typewriter

Paper

Drafting film

Format

Zine

Dimensions

6 × 6 in

Pages

16

Location

Brooklyn, NY

$ 14.00

Unavailable


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Bucknell University

DePaul University

Deutsche Nationalbibliothek

THE NEW SCHOOL LIBRARIES AND ARCHIVES

University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)

Mask Up was originally created in 2020 as a reflection upon a new reality of masks in everyday life after March 2020 in the United States, with the rise of the Covid-19 pandemic. This zine explored personal experiences making fabric masks and the inclusion of masks in media and pop culture. Also discussed was the history of mask laws and how those conditions complicated and endangered personal health and safety, as well as an overview of mutual aid projects.

The 2022 second edition of the zine holds the same words from 2020, with new layers of experience from the past 2.5 years. The zine considers the change between the fabric masks often favored in the first years of the pandemic and the currently widely available commercially produced masks. The transparent cover with silkscreened mask and a Chartpak dry transfer title emote the fragility and precariousness surrounding mask information and misinformation. Included is an addendum, typed on fabric originally purchased for fabric masks. The text reflects on the past few years of mask wearing, posing questions of capitalism and community care within a medical emergency.

Each zine has variable fabric, transfers and printing.