Face hunger
On Covid, masks, and the desire to see each other face-to-face
Hello friends,
Every Wednesday, I put together The Weekly so we can take a closer look at one of the issues dominating the headlines. In true Sift. Shift. Lift. fashion, we turn to journalism or academic research, artists, and activists to better understand (and respond to) the story behind the headlines.
Thanks, as always, for joining me. If you appreciate The Weekly (or have something to add) please “like” or “comment” below.
Sift.
Yesterday, my twin boys started Grade 7. My wife took the ubiquitous first-day-of-school photo. I am looking at it now. One boy flashes a broad smile; the other hides his behind a mask.
The mask brings both boys (and their mothers) a sense of reassurance, one bolstered by frequent hand washing, social and physical distancing, and vaccinations. Yet, I wonder how the lack of face time, so to speak, affects our ability to express ourselves and to understand others.
Don’t get me wrong. I am grateful for all the layers of protection that have kept us safe to date—and I don’t go anywhere without my mask. I have wondered, however, if mask-wearing affects our social relationships or interactions.
On September 6, 2021, the CBC Radio show IDEAS launched a new series called Body Language, which “explores what our bodies express, literally and symbolically.”
The first episode, “Face to face,” turns to science, literature, and art to examine what we mean when we talk about the face, and to consider new ways of interacting face-to-face (and virtually) now and once the pandemic ends.
Find out more and listen to the podcast episode (55 minutes).
“Reimagining the face to face encounter in the time of Covid,” (Pauline Holdsworth)
Did you know?
The widespread cultural belief that face-to-face encounters are needed to create and reinforce social bonds can be traced to philosopher Emmanuel Levinas and his book Totality and Infinity (1961).
In the words of Sharonna Pearl, Associate Professor of Bioethics, Drexel University, (Holdsworth, 2021), Levinas:
has this notion that the origin of our ethical obligations to the other emerge out of this moment of the face-to-face encounter.
A notion that we may wish to reconsider.
Shift.
In the first episode of Body Language, Riva Lehrer, a portrait artist, instructor, and author of the memoir Golem Girl, talks about her lifelong fascination with faces, and the “face hunger” she experienced with the onset of the Covid pandemic.
Born with Spina Bifida, Lehrer talks about how wearing a mask has “muffled” her:
No one could hear me. Nobody could see my expressions. I was reduced to just a body … It was like when I had thrown a drop cloth on a bird cage.
Covid also altered her approach to art. Unable to invite people into her studio, Lehren had to adapt.
The most intimate experiences I was having were through this digital screen. So I wanted to do a portrait of that, of people, of the intimacy that was mediated by the screen.
To learn more about Lehrer’s art and to see some of her zoom portraits, including one of Alice Wong (see below), check out:
“The virus has stolen your face from me” by Riva Lehrer in The New York Times (December 10, 2020)
Lift.
Alice Wong—the subject of one of Riva Lehrer’s zoom portraits—is a disabled activist, writer, media maker, and consultant. She also is the founder and director of the Disability Visibility Project (DVP), an online community dedicated to creating, sharing, and amplifying disability media and culture created in 2014.
Interested? Find out how you can support her organization and get involved.
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Did you miss an issue?
Here are the last two issues (just in case):
Sifting, shifting, and lifting with . . . artist Courtney Blazon (September 5, 2021)
The Weekly on climate change and mental health (September 1, 2021)
Interesting (as always)!