With the pandemic closing museums and galleries across the US, artists have been heading to the street to find a way of making an impact through their work. Whether it’s with villainous cartoon-like germs, soldiers armed with Purell or even just a friendly reminder to wash your hands, creatives have found a collective coping strategy for dealing with Covid-19.

Miami

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Photograph: Photo courtesy of Kapu Collective

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Before Miami’s mayor shut down beaches, spring breakers were in full swing, despite a public call for social distancing. In a faraway construction zone in an undisclosed location, Sean Yoro, who works under the artist name Hula, has created a coronavirus cell on the end of a wrecking ball. The artwork’s environment is a demolition site along a shore. It’s what the artist calls “a perfect symbol of the current chaos and destruction happening right now around the world”. He explains: “Using the crumbling foundation and debris, I really wanted to emphasize the unprecedented impact this virus is having on almost every aspect of human life. Once this pandemic is over, the world will not run the same; the fragility of our global systems has been exposed and people will be heavily influenced by these events, in both thoughts and actions, moving forward.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Jules Muck. Photograph: Photo by Paul Lara

Meanwhile in the city, artist Jules Muck, whose artist name is Muck Rock, painted a mural of Anna Nicole Smith wearing a fear-scrawled face mask. “I’m a little bit in fear of when we’ll get out of this,” said Muck, a California-based artist. “I painted this piece when I was recently in Miami, there was a lot of pandemonium, people buying up all the supplies, it wasn’t a great way to see human beings – there’s preparedness, then there’s selfishness. The fear was causing people to be self-serving.”

New York City

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Plannedalism Photograph: Courtesy of the artist

“We’re out of toilet paper because we’ve been knee deep in shit for a while,” reads a scrawling from Jilly Ballistic who has also teamed up with Plannedalism for collaborative pieces that say Spread No Virus, written in the style of a Post No Bills stencil, one of which is in Freemans Alley in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. “To say there’s an air of uncertainty is an understatement,” said Ballistic. “The pieces are a way of dealing with the feeling of little or no control, a way for the viewer to know they’re not alone in that feeling.” Adds Plannedalism: “People need a focus for their joy or grief or vent their frustration. As artists, it is important that we provide a more creative way for people to focus and reshape those emotions.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Cire One. Photograph: e/Courtesy of the artist

In Brooklyn, artist Eric Joza, whose artist name is Cire One, created a mural at the corner of Grove Street and Broadway Avenue in Boerum Hill. The piece depicts a demon-like virus, a Biohazard symbol and a self-portrait of the artist in a respirator. “After the city declared the state of emergency, I wanted to do something to date this piece of the environment we’re in,” said Joza. “But life goes on, even though I think it’ll get worse before it gets better.”

Los Angeles

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Hijack Art. Photograph: Courtesy of the artist

West coast street artist Hijack Art has created a mural of two soldiers fending off the coronavirus in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood of LA. “This particular issue involving the coronavirus and all the devastation it’s leaving in its wake, was a no-brainer for me,” said the artist. “The fear and call to action of this pandemic has really captured the imagination of many in and outside my city.” Located at the intersection of West Pico Boulevard at Reeves Street, the two characters in the piece are wearing Hazmat suits, while attempting to fend off the virus with a feather duster, Windex, hand sanitizer and a vacuum bearing a “No Covid-19” symbol. It taps into the dire need for alcohol-based hand sanitizers. “It’s been a mixed bag of careless spring breakers, toilet paper hoarders, conspiracy theorists and hypochondria,” adds Hijack. “I’m being told ‘it feels like we’re in wartime,’ so I also wanted to add that element to the piece.”

Raleigh, North Carolina

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Morgan Cook. Photograph: Courtesy of the artist

Even smaller cities are seeing public art pop up around town, one being a mural by local artist Morgan Cook, who has painted the wall of an auto body shop with a mural that reads “Wash Your Hands!” It’s in a popular area, shown alongside a manga-like character and the letter S, standing for the name of the Supreme Auto Body. “It was when the coronavirus epidemic was just starting to show up in the US, and panic hadn’t quite set in yet,” said Cook. “We wanted to bring awareness to the issue at hand, while also offering a comedic relief in light of how grave the situation has become.” He adds: “With all the anxiety taking place throughout the US right now, we could all use a little positivity and remember that no matter how bad things get, we will return much stronger.”

Doylestown, Pennsylvania

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Shannon Greenhaus. Photograph: Courtesy of the artist

The artist Shannon Greenhaus has created a cardboard artwork in the window of her house, which is in a high-traffic street with a lot of pedestrians. Since 8 March, the artist has emblazoned the phrases #StayTheFuckHome and #WearAFuckingMask alongside a sculpture of a 17th-century doctor’s mask. “As I have watched it all unfold here in the US, I am increasingly frustrated with the lack of clear, decisive action being taken by government officials, and the ambivalence of many individuals,” said Greenhaus. “People are not acting with the level of gravity that this situation requires.” The hashtags the artist has used point to an online movement spearheaded by sites like staythefuckhome.com and wearafuckingmask.com, which offer jargon-free advice and DIY how-tos for mask-making, hand-washing and online resources. “The information is clear, concise and sourced, which is awesome, since so many people think they don’t need to wear one,” she adds, “and arguing about why they should, is exhausting.”