A special HUMAN project by Valerio Nico

Valerio Nico, a photographer living and working in Milan, offers a glimpse into a not-so-distant future, and explores the visual aspects mask-wearing in his recent photographic series.

PHOTOGRAPHY Valerie Nico

Wearing face coverings and masks are nothing new, but their meaning has changed given the current circumstances. What was your starting point with these photographs?

Curiosity.

I wanted to document what was happening outside. The ideas of irony and beauty are in everything I see, especially in peoples' eyes and their faces. So, I tried to understand how social relationships between people have changed, their interactions, how we can react to such a crisis, and how we are re-adjusting to this new reality.

We have all seen creative (and maybe improper ways) of wearing masks—what stood out to you about the people you were shooting?

The ironic and controversial aspect. Almost immediately after shooting, I noticed that the people I photographed reminded me of hybrid beings, of post-humans. You could only see their hair and clothing. They looked like machines: Silhouettes of bored faces that reflect the banal and mechanical act of mingling among a crowd of thousands of people in the most crowded squares of Milan.

The images are both striking and simple; they’re very revealing about the world we’re living in…

We live in a specific time where everything that we have done, collectively, is threatened.

Because of this project, I was able to think about how this pandemic has offered up the opportunity to re-consider this time as one of transition. It's a moment that has profoundly changed our relationship with the main aspects of our humanity.

This pandemic combined with other problems—like climate change—is slowly making this "post-human" scenario, that I have tried to represent, a concrete reality.