Last May, London’s Victoria and Albert Museum started the Pandemic Objects blog, and later mounted a physical exhibition of the same name. The project reflects on objects that have taken on new meaning during Covid-19 times, from face masks and nitrile gloves to beards and TikTok. The posts tuck in mini history lessons: a recent text on hand-drawn rainbow signs traces the phenomenon back to the lockdown in Italy last March, and discusses the symbolism of rainbows in Sumerian, Greek, Navajo, and Judeo-Christian stories. The curators are also engaging in real-time: they collected over a hundred rainbow drawings for the V&A’s permanent collection.
Review by Elsa Lam