“To mask, or not to mask, that is the question”: COVID (Anti)Masking and Comics

ABSTRACT While masks have functioned as important cultural artifacts, religious symbols, costume pieces, and components of social identity throughout history, in the current biopsychosocial context (of the COVID-19 pandemic), they predominantly refer to medical masks. This article, after reviewing the comprehensive and complex history (and evolution) of masks, seeks to investigate the symbolism and attitudes toward masking in the wake of COVID-19 through a detailed analysis of single-paneled images and sequential comics by artists such as Michael Green, Clare McCarthy, and illustrator Isabel Seliger (for NPR), who delineates the experiences of Agnes Boisvert, an ICU nurse. The article relates the issue of masking with the semiotics of identity, anonymity, responses of healthcare professionals, collective responsibility, and anti-masking attitudes, among others. This research further draws attention to the potential of the comics medium in visualizing and expressing sentiments around (anti)masking and concludes by showing how biological, cultural, political, and social forces inform and influence discourses around masking.