A mural of six masked front-line workers decorates the wall of a rubbish dump in New Delhi. One of the figures wears a surgical gown. He is all smiles, raising two fingers in the universal gesture of peace. The other five are all wearing masks and different items that identify their vocations: a construction helmet, hooded plastic overalls, a beret. The mural is a homage to the essential workers around the city, aiming to recognise the efforts of those who are doing their part to stop the spread of the coronavirus. With the pandemic persistently shaping our daily lives, it is no surprise that street artists are continuing to incorporate Covid-19 themes into their work. From Mexico’s beach town of Acapulco to the Kenyan capital of Nairobi, building facades and street walls have been adorned with beautiful works that have raised healthcare personnel and other essential workers to the status of superheroes. In Mexico City, urban artist Julio Aferra has recently revealed a mural of painter Frida Kahlo donning a mask. On Sunday, Mexico became the country with the fourth-highest death toll from Covid-19, according to data from the John Hopkins University. In Rio de Janeiro, a mural of the Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is seen wearing a mask as he is surrounded by coronavirus particles. The populist leader repeatedly refused to wear a mask in public, and downplayed the seriousness of the pandemic until the country became the second-worst affected in the world, after the US, and he himself contracted the virus. Splashed on boarded-up storefronts and on street walls, Covid-19 murals have been an important way of spreading positivity and information about the pandemic. Check out the gallery to see some of the latest Covid-19 murals from around the world.
