Covid-19 – Trash 20/21

Photo project by Dejan Petrović

Keys, wallet, and… a protective mask, things you make sure not to forget when leaving home. No matter what colour, fabric and level of protection, masks have become part of our daily routine. Neatly packed in small protective bags, they are part of us, like underwear, socks, shoes. We wear them for a short or long time, but eventually we replace them with a fresh, crisp, newly unpacked one. And what do we do with the old one? Most of us, most of the time, find a proper trashcan and lay our protector in its final resting place. Others carelessly throw them around, making protective masks a new type of trash. This project collects the photos of the masks that did not find their final resting place but are roaming the streets, yards, forests, rivers… of the world, making this the new trash of the 21st century.

Starting with one photo from the Serbian capital Belgrade, this continuous project has collected over 300 photos of the masks that pollute our environment around the world: Finland, Ukraine, Switzerland, Serbia, Austria, Bosnia, Poland, Germany, Romania, USA, Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary...