The Masked Project: 100 Portraits

This is not about a virus.

This is about us.

The Masked Project presents 100 portraits taken by photographer Ashley Murphy during the spring 2020 surge of COVID-19. From behind cotton and polypropylene, stars and grommets, leather and paisley, feathers and studs, eyes unmask worlds about personhood and pandemic life. The collection and flash reflections from Murphy’s brief portrait sessions are moving reminders that alongside fear of the unknown stands the refusal to shrink and the unrelenting drive for self-expression. From a safe distance, we emerge bold and brave, known and remembered.