Masks from The Times of Plague (Maski z czasów zarazy Orig.) is the publication showcasing the art project from the cross-section of theatre and costume design, by a Polish artist and designer Ireneusz Domagała. Domagała, an awarded and well-established graphic designer, stage and theater costume designer, who works as a professor in the theater costume department at the University of Arts in Poznań, found creativity and inspiration in the isolation that came with the pandemic.
When masks, a traditional part of the theater and costume design realm, become part of our everyday lives
The project, simply titled Masks (Maski Orig.) in the beginning, was born during the first pandemic lockdown and restrictions that were in place in 2020 in Poland. When the classes at the university where Domagała teaches were suspended and everyone was asked to stay at home, Domagała began creating abstract and fashion and art-inspired versions of face masks – the one item many of us had to familiarize ourselves with, and since has become part of our everyday lives, across the globe. Domagała published the designs on his Facebook page, where the project quickly grew in popularity.
Domagała began creating abstract and fashion and art-inspired versions of face masks – the one item many of us had to familiarize ourselves with, and since has become part of our everyday lives, across the globe.
A series of the first sixty masks were exhibited at a gallery in Mosina, and were later put between two covers in the book titled Masks from The Times of Plague, designed by Polish graphic designer Jakub Haremza. Haremza’s role was to design the publication that finalized the project – by presenting the project to a wider audience through print and immortalizing this unique period of time and the creative aspects that came with it for future generations.
The Masks from the Times of Plague book, which includes 222 pages in 16x24cm format, is printed on beautiful, high-quality Munken Polar 130 gsm – a favorite among artbook designers and publishers – a paper exclusively available at Europapier Group. The book utilizes the Neue Montreal typeface by Pangram Pangram, which Haremza selectively has transformed to create the beautiful headers, as well as the title on the bold, red cover. Explore more art books and paper projects that beautifully utilize the Munken paper range here.
What we saw when we lost halves of our faces?
– Anna Kochnowicz-Kann
Words are masks put onto things and facts
– Roman Kubicki
We grow so used to them that we recognize less and less easily our own natural and human faces
– Roman Kubicki
