DaVida Sal, a performance artist from the US, faced a lot of criticism on social media after she went out shopping dressed in nothing but a bikini made of surgical masks, at Trader Joe's in Los Angeles. The woman was protesting against the lockdown restrictions imposed in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
Since its outbreak in Wuhan in China, in December last year, the global pandemic has infected over 1.7 million people in the US and killed more than 99,000 people. Los Angeles county has more than 43,000 positive cases with over 2,000 deaths.
DaVida Sal Calls Her Stunt 'New AbNormal'
Sal, who posed outside the supermarket with only a couple of blue-colored surgical masks to hide her modesty, posted her pictures on Facebook. She placed the surgical masks on her ankles and eyes, but left her mouth uncovered.
Terming her stunt as the new "AbNormal", Sal wrote: "Abnormal Becoming the New Normal. She blindly obeyed. My new #artivism since last time I was behind the camera with my super Artivist siSTAR twin Julianne ."
"If the MASKS work, WHY the 6 feet? If the 6 feet works, WHY the Masks?
If BOTH work, WHY the LOCKDOWN? Please share your thoughts about the meaning of these images, what are they representing for you. We would like to hear from all of you. Now more than ever we must express ourselves with the brilliance we were created to be," she said in her post.
The performance artist, who describes herself as "priestess of Isis", revealed that the authorities at the supermarket called the police on her because she wasn't wearing a mask across her mouth.
Social Media Pans Sal's Expression of Freedom
According to the New York Post, Sal in her post, endorsed the theory that suggests the coronavirus is a hoax, "created to erode freedoms by forcing people to wear masks in public and maintain a six-foot distance from each other".
Her publicity stunt backfired when social media users panned her posts. "People where I live are dying, Karen. Protecting the most vulnerable people in our population is the right thing to do. Wearing a mask is not difficult," wrote one user on FB.
Outraged over the misuse of PPE, a healthcare worker commented: "As a healthcare worker whom is rationed one mask until it falls apart. I'm pissed off you wasted so many for your 'statement.'"
