This year, Head on Photo Festival returned throughout November and early December with an extensive program of online and outdoor exhibitions located across Sydney, Australia. MAP6 photographer Aaron Yeandle exhibited his series PPE on Bondi beech and gave a live artist talk as part of the festival line up. You can find out more about Aarons work and the festival below.
Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, images of medical staff in hazmat suits inundated the media, making many of us feel anxious and scared. Increased demand for PPE (Personal Protective Equipment such as facemasks) sparked a global shortage.
PPE-19, produced in Aaron’s apartment during the first COVID-19 lockdown, depicts figures wearing hazmat suits that reflect how deeply masks are ingrained into our primal psyche.
The project also references the menacing suits and animal-like masks filled with dried flowers and laudanum to ward off infection that doctors wore during the Bubonic Plague.
