Lines, faces and surgical masks: drawings in SARS-CoV-2/ Covid-19 pandemic

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5965/24471267932023152

Keywords:

drawing, face, identity, visual expression, Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic covered faces with protective masks, of different shapes and typologies, which transformed the visibility of human facial expressions. The observational drawings presented here are snapshots of this reconfiguration, carried out in Lisbon in 2020, during my daily life during the pandemic. Quick notes of strangers in public spaces, recorded in situ, in notebooks or loose sheets, with materials I had at hand (or in my pocket). The line’s simplicity allowed the recording speed’s urgency to reduce the embarrassment of ocular fixation, in a vulnerable public health context. The geometric modelling of the mask broke with the canon of proportions and changed the expression and the minimum elements of facial recognition. The eyes-nose-lips compositional relationship disappeared, to give way to other entities: gaze-eyebrow, forehead trapezium, hair frame, ears-hanger, and neck-pedestal. In the new visual order, the conflict between identity and abstraction has awakened the symbolic, social and cultural values of the use of masks in the construction of personality, the representation of narratives and the oppression of rights and freedoms.

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Author Biography

Shakil Rahim, Universidade Técnica de Lisboa

Arquiteto pela Faculdade de Arquitetura da Universidade Técnica de Lisboa. Doutor em Arquitetura, especialidade Desenho, pela Universidade de Lisboa, com a tese "As Funções da Atenção Visual do Desenhador no Fenómeno de Desenho de Observação. Uma Aproximação ao Modelo de Funcionamento Cognitivo". Professor Auxiliar de Desenho e Desenho Arquitetónico na Faculdade de Arquitetura da Universidade de Lisboa, Departamento de Desenho, Geometria e Computação. Membro do CIAUD/ FA-ULisboa, Centro de Investigação em Arquitetura, Urbanismo e Design. Autor do livro "O Desenhador - Estudos Cognitivos, Artísticos e Fenomenológicos". Áreas de investigação: desenho de observação, desenho arquitetónico, atenção visual, processamento espacial, experiência do gesto, cognição humana. Email: shakil.rahim@fa.ulisboa.pt

References

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Published

2024-01-04

How to Cite

RAHIM, Shakil. Lines, faces and surgical masks: drawings in SARS-CoV-2/ Covid-19 pandemic. Revista Apotheke, Florianópolis, v. 9, n. 3, p. 155–170, 2024. DOI: 10.5965/24471267932023152. Disponível em: https://www.revistas.udesc.br/index.php/apotheke/article/view/24497. Acesso em: 9 sep. 2025.

Issue

Vol. 9 No. 3 (2023): Processes and Procedures in Pedagogical Scenes

Section

Artigos Seção temática

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Copyright (c) 2024 Shakil Rahim

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