American Values, Photographs and Google Map, A collaborative project created during the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020-21

American Values

I started seeing face masks on the side of the road in April 2020 and began taking pictures of them. Then I began taking photos of them and plotting them on a Google Map. These “lost” masks became a symbol of what I saw as American values, or lack of values. We are a culture that has the expectation that it can have anything it wants whenever it wants and that most everything is replaceable. We are constantly preoccupied with the next best thing and what’s best for us as individuals, instead of what’s best for the group. We are careless and thoughtless and lack basic compassion.

In response to these thoughts, I developed a collaborative project called American Values to archive images of lost masks and make something thoughtful with others. I invited the public to send me their photos of lost masks from wherever they lived and charted them one by one.  The project concluded on September 26, 2021 with 3,056 mask points on the map.

See the map here.

I thank the 156 people who sent images of masks from 30 states and 14 countries. This project was a daily touchstone for me for over a year and created many connections. Together we made something thoughtful during a time of great difficulty.