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I started Limited Edition-19, nineteen unique, cast porcelain N95 masks, in early April when so much of the national conversation about COVID was the lack of personal protective equipment for hospitals and frontline workers. I was interested in using porcelain and gold for the suggestion of jewel-like preciousness as an implication of who has access to and who doesn’t in our American healthcare caste system.

The mask is a defining and multivalent symbol of our time, and for me this series works as a kind of alternative monument to this hellacious year. As I started to make them, I realized pretty quickly that I wanted them to serve an immediate purpose. I began to sell them as a fundraiser with 100% of the sales going to various causes. I succeeded in raising $4000 to date for organizations supporting at-risk groups as well as racial justice and voting rights.

Jeanne Friscia

jfriscia@gmail.com