Fitchburg Art Museum - Breathe No Evil

The No Evil Project is a nonprofit organization that uses art, humour, and conversation to challenge stereotypes and help people find commonality and understanding despite their differences.

Typically for the project, people pose as the Three Wise Monkeys: See No Evil, Hear No Evil, and Speak No Evil. They pick three labels that describe themselves, and write a good thing they’ve done to challenge negative stereotypes people may have about those labels.

At the start of the pandemic, we noticed that even though wearing face masks helps protect yourself and others, it caused philosophical division. In addition, since masks are associated with criminals, wearing them made people feel uncomfortable, and due to stereotypes, people of color wearing them feared for their safety. Other biases brought on by the pandemic resulted in discrimination and violence towards people of Asian descent.

So we wanted to normalize wearing masks, but with the pandemic, our traditional method of getting large groups of people together and having them touch their faces wasn’t... ideal. The solution: Breathe No Evil, a simplified COVID-19 themed version of the project. This time, people take selfies, and with just one of the poses: Cover your mouth (and nose), but with a mask.

Explore these stories to see how people of all kinds are helping their friends, family, and community, and are coming together for the common good by protecting each other with the simple act of wearing a mask.