Cloth Face Mask Cards for CHA Residents
Design & Riso Printing
Studio Brazen + National Public Housing Museum
May 2020
As cases of COVID-19 spread throughout Chicago, those who were marginalized before began feeling it even more. Access to PPE was not being provided to folks living in public housing in Chicago. Studio Brazen + the National Public Housing Museum worked with Chicago-based artists and activists Alexandria Eregbu, and Mary Scott-Boria & Darthula Young, who sewed the masks as part of #MuseumsAtHome.
![](http://laurenmeranda.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/masks08-1800x1200-1-1024x683.jpeg)
![](http://laurenmeranda.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/masks29-scaled.jpeg)
Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Lisa Yun Lee, the director of the National Public Housing Museum passed them out to residents. Each mask came with a card with the storied history of mask wearing in the US and instructions on how to safely wear and care for the mask.
![](http://laurenmeranda.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/A5E594A1-15AE-457F-AB0D-557FB820C42E.jpeg)
The cards were printed at NEIU on the Art + Design Department’s risograph printer in three colors (pumpkin, cornflower, and black). Risograph printing is eco friendly, using rice-based ink, and works like a cross between screen printing and a xerox machine. Each color and side of the page is a separate run through the machine.
![](http://laurenmeranda.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/4F5DEC88-0D9A-4532-9BBD-B5BE8F4C0AC0.jpeg)