A protective mask made of undyed cotton fabric with a digital print in black visible on one side of the fabric. The mask is made of a single, elongated piece of fabric. In the middle of its length the fabric has been stitched in two places (top and bottom). The resulting two folds give the mask its characteristic shape (it is convex in the central part, which enables it to be fitted to the wearer's face). On the edges of the fabric (horizontally) there are oval holes (enabling the mask to be attached to the wearer's ears). The edges of the fabric are not hemmed. The print depicts signs of the Hebrew alphabet. The space between them is not printed. The signs visible in the central part are surrounded by a thin black line which encloses them in an ellipse. In the middle of the ellipse and at its bottom and top, additional lines are placed, forming rectangles (six rectangles spread radially), into which the signs are also inscribed. Additional lines radiate out from the sides of each rectangle. Each of these lines ends with a circle in which a single mark is inscribed. Above the circle (at the top of the central part of the mask) is a symbol in the form of a circle with an irregular edge in the form of joined triangles ("teeth").
The work by Ken Goldman, a contemporary Israeli artist, refers to the pattern of a 16th-century Jewish protective amulet that was supposed to protect its wearer from the plagues spreading at the time. The inspiration came from an amulet the author found in the Kabbalistic "Book of Sofer Tzadik Yesod Olam" (Hebrew: צדיק יסוד עולם), printed in Lvov (Yidd. לעמבערג ), in 1885 (p. 23b). The author himself writes about his inspiration as follows: "As a contemporary artist who often draws inspiration from Jewish sources, I decided to re-excavate these ancient sources to contribute to the prevention of the deadly Covid virus. Fortunately, in my research I discovered that rabbis in the 16th century had struggled with an earlier deadly pandemic and had created an amulet to stop its spread. I combined the image of the amulet with a modern protective mask to create "The Pandemic Mask-Amulet" in the hope that its use could help fight the current pandemic.".
Marta Frączkiewicz
