Piotr Szyhalski, Polish, born 1967
COVID-19: Labor Camp Report: June 28, 2020, 2020
Beginning on March 24th, 2020, Minneapolis-based artist Piotr Szyhalski has created a hand- drawn poster every day for his COVID-19: Labor Camp Report series. Each piece mimics the style of the Polish posters the artist regularly encountered while growing up, but the striking visual language now communicates messages of action and change amid the coronavirus pandemic and widespread protests of deep-seated racial inequality in the U.S. In the entry for June 28th, Szyhalski references the toppling of monuments across the country as part of the effort to unmask past injustices and violence. The term also references the violence of those who refuse to wear a facial mask to protect themselves and others from the virus. In the upper right margin, the artist has included the number of reported coronavirus cases in the U.S. by the date of the piece’s creation, as well as the recorded deaths. Label by Sarah Roberts