It was the early days of lockdown and we were looking for activities to do with our almost two-year-old son, trying to maintain routines that were slipping through our fingers. Suddenly, one afternoon we started hearing applause, we went out to the balcony and our little one started clapping too. Goosebumps and flooded eyes: all the balconies full to thank those people behind the mask who were on the front lines every day. Like our neighbors, essential staff from Hospital de Sant Pau and Hospital Universitario Vall d'Hebrón. And every day, at 8 PM sharp, we broke the silence of the street so they could hear us loud and clear. But with the end of the lockdown, the applause ceased, though not the need to acknowledge the effort they still make to this day.
Sergi Parreño and Maya Rolando from the Barcelona studio Mandaruixa Design, noticed that in other countries around the world, initiatives were being promoted to recognize the work of health professionals, and they set to work to create their own artistic project: "we saw that in big capitals, campaigns of gratitude using art and design were emerging. In contrast, in our country there was a lack of such initiatives and, in the midst of lockdown, we decided to launch the project Behind the Mask," they explain.
Mandaruixa Design and Co·Laboratori, in collaboration with Renfe, HP, Kammerer and Marc Martí, are carrying out this action, which aims to raise awareness among citizens about the importance of the work of healthcare personnel and offer, to society as a whole, a collective opportunity for recognition and gratitude, through an urban and digital intervention. A creative look with multiple approaches: from the testimonies and experiences of healthcare, administrative and service personnel working in hospitals, to patients and family members.
To put a face to medical and service personnel, hundreds of images of healthcare professionals' faces with masks are being reproduced, distributed, and displayed, using all available urban communication supports, such as advertising columns and mupis at different points in the city, hand in hand with the street marketing company Marc Martí; advertising supports and interior screens of Renfe-Rodalies de Catalunya trains; on its website and social networks. "From Renfe, we have valued this initiative very positively, and we want to reach a massive audience and make users aware of the importance of the work done by healthcare and essential services personnel in the midst of a pandemic."
Hundreds of images of faces of healthcare professionals with masks are being reproduced, distributed, and displayedThere will also be small-format posters to distribute in shops and establishments, all printed by HP in collaboration with paper suppliers Kammerer. Thus,Barcelona joins large-format photographic exhibitionsthat took place in Paris and New York, and the billboards on the streets of London.
One of the most beautiful ideas of this project is to tell the story of the person behind the professional. Each image carries an identifying QR code that redirects to the project's website, allowing the ordinary citizen to discover the face without a mask and read the story of each professional. "Until now, we only have numbers of deaths and infections, but we wanted to show that behind those masks there are people," comments Maya Rolando from Mandaruixa Design. The hashtag #behindthemask_life has also been activated so that we can participate by sharing photos of the posters on our social media.
"Until now, we only have numbers of deaths and infections, but we wanted to show that behind those masks there are people," comments Maya Rolando from Mandaruixa Design43 healthcare professionals and two hospitals in Barcelona, Hospital del Mar and its associated centers, and Vall d'Hebrón University Hospital, have already joined this project, although the idea is for the initiative to extend to other cities in the territory. In fact, the project's website already includes photographs and testimonies from healthcare personnel in Barcelona, Tarragona, Tortosa, Bilbao, Valladolid, and Madrid.
"Basically, we want to offer public recognition to an entire sector that every day fights battles, terrible, sad but also hopeful stories, beyond the numbers and statistics. To show that all this happens behind masks that we have already gotten used to. But there are professionals who are people like us, with their lives, with their stories, with their problems, who continue to be here to care for us and give their best professional side," from Mandaruixa Design.
We all have someone, closer or further away, to thank for their work. I have my neighbors Laura Lozano and Ewa Dorota Piatek, and everyone who attended my second delivery in the middle of the pandemic. Because Behind the Mask is all of you, this is my small tribute: THANK YOU VERY MUCH!