PHOTOS: Mexican Artists Create Fantastical Masks To Show The Many Faces Of COVID

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Blanca Cardenas, professor of ethnology at the National School of Anthropology and History, wears the mask «COVID Tiger, by Nahua artisan Armando Pascualeño from Zitlala, Guerrero, Mexico.





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«COVID Skull, Melky Argüelles, Naolico, Veracruz, México.





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Carlos Dávila, subdirector of bachelor degrees at the National School of Anthropology and History, poses with the mask «The Devil of Teloloapan, by Fidel Puente from Teloloapan, Guerrero, Mexico.





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«Evil Jaguar Mask, Mixteco artisan Yonny Calixto, Ahuehuetitla, Puebla, Mexico.





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«Cocoliztli, Nahua artisan Juan Hernández González, Atlapexco, Hidalgo, Mexico.





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«Mestizo Man, Nahua artisan Zeferino Baltasar Basilio, San Francisco Ozomatlán, Guerrero, Mexico.





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«COVID Pig, Nahua artisan Zeferino Baltasar Basilio, San Francisco Ozomatlán, Guerrero, Mexico.





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«COVID Bull, Juan Serrano, Zapopan, Jalisco, Mexico.





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What lessons can be learned from these artful expressions of indigenous cultures?

Cárdenas: That there are many ways of living the pandemic and of understanding the virus. Their world is one made of other worlds where humans are not the only species that exist. It teaches us that it is essential to rethink our relationship with the world of nature and to appreciate the importance of the supernatural to these cultures.

Cathy Newman is a former editor at large at National Geographic whose work has appeared in The Economist, The Wall Street Journal and Science. Follow her on twitter @wordcat12

• COVID-19


• masks


• pandemic


• coronavirus


• Mexico