Victor Wang on COVID-19, Bio-racism, and Art's Role During Pandemic

Victor Wang, the artistic director of M Woods museum in Beijing, shares his experiences from the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in both China and London. In January 2020, prior to the term 'COVID-19' being coined, he first sensed the impending crisis via WeChat. On January 10, Chinese researchers sequenced the virus's genome, oblivious to its evolution into bio-racism in Euro-America. Wang noted that Western media concentrated on the virus's origins in Wuhan instead of focusing on preventive strategies, portraying COVID-19 as an issue limited to Chinese communities. He recalls being photographed while wearing masks and mentions the US Surgeon General's tweet in February 2020 regarding mask effectiveness. Wang ties this to historical disease patterns and reflects on M Woods' closure, considering social media for reconnecting artists. He concludes that face masks have emerged as a contentious global health topic.