Free exhibit featuring hundreds of face masks opens at the ROM tomorrow

A new exhibit at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) documents the experiences of the COVID-19 through hundreds of face masks.

The aptly named exhibit, Unmasking the Pandemic: From Personal Protection to Personal Expression, will open on September 18, and is completely free to the public.

The exhibit features more than 100 stunning face masks handmade by artists, designers, and makers from 23 countries around the world.

Over 40 Canadian creators are included in the showcase, and 15 of the masks were made by Indigenous artists.

“These masks, they tell stories. They tell the story of their maker and what they faced during the pandemic,” lead curator Fahmid Suleman told Daily Hive.

“Even the ones that are less eye-catching, the stories behind them and what they represent is just incredible.”

Unmasking the Pandemic was a “labour of love,” for Suleman and her fellow curators, she said. The team collected over 250 masks for the exhibit, even purchasing some themselves.

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The exhibit divides the masks into four themes: poetry and protest, survival and strength, heroes and warriors, and artistry and innovation.

Each mask, from functional to ornate, is a time capsule of how its maker experienced the pandemic.

One mask was specially made to fit comfortably over a turban, another depicts the Black Lives Matter movement in Toronto, and one helps those who are hard of hearing to lipread.

A series of masks depict Iranian folklore, another is a celebration of Ghanaian textiles, and one represents the feminine nurturing of Métis matriarchs.

From stories of resilience to tales of cultural identity and chronicles of our collective humanity, check out some of the breathtaking pieces featured in Unmasking the Pandemic below.

Unmasking the Pandemic: From Personal Protection to Personal Expression

When: Opens September 18

Where: Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queens Park, Toronto

Tickets: Free