Wear A Mask!: Oxford’s Pandemic Portraits

Between early 2020 and spring 2021, Oxford - like the rest of the UK - was subject to a series of restrictions to combat the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. After initial hesitation, the government stipulated that face masks should be worn in certain contexts to reduce transmission. These masks soon became obligatory but also a matter of personal choice in terms of how they looked and what they signified.

Over a year, Oxford-based photographer Martin Stott recorded hundreds of images of masked individuals in the city, revealing the extraordinary diversity and individuality at play in a public health measure that was previously unfamiliar to most people. Politics, identity, fashion, subversion and resilience are all colourfully expressed in Stott’s subjects who were photographed in a range of everyday contexts. This book presents 56 of these photographs.

Wear a Mask!, echoing Anthony Fauci’s memorable plea for collective action, provides a striking visual record of how Oxford’s population reacted to an unprecedented public health crisis and turned face masks into a powerful expression of identity