April 14th 2021 - May 10th 2021
Breathe No Evil is our COVID-19 friendly selfie version of the photo project created after we couldn’t do our usual events photographing people ourselves. Participants still choose labels, but there is just one pose: covering your mouth... with a mask, and many people choose pandemic related good deeds.
In 2018-2019 we had our first art museum exhibit at the Fitchburg Art Museum in Fitchburg, MA and it was a big success. So much so that we were invited back to showcase Breathe No Evil this year. With the pandemic, the museum was closed to the public, so it would be an online exhibit. That was easy, it was already an online exhibit.
As the opening grew closer, though, places started to reopen, and our virtual exhibit expanded into a physical exhibit. It would be the first in the Community Gallery since the museum reopened so we went all out. To get more local participation, the museum even created “Selfie Spots” that were placed throughout the building to encourage people to take photos of themselves for the exhibit with their favorite pieces in the museum.
With the pandemic, we weren’t able to have an opening reception, but there were still over 340 people who saw the physical exhibit in that month, and another 330 online. All of the exhibit text was available in English and Spanish. The museum’s gift shop even featured No Evil Project merchandise to support the organization and we sold a lot of shirts, mugs, pins, and of course Breathe No Evil masks.
In addition, as the online exhibit is always growing, we wanted to do the same at the museum as well. So even after the initial banner featuring 104 people and one dog was hung, we continued to print out new submissions and hang them on the wall throughout the length of the exhibit. Our first growing physical exhibit!