The Beauty Spot (response to COVID-19)
“The Beauty Spot” is a 3-minute video created in April 2020 in response to the Coronavirus pandemic. The video is part of the curated series “Acquired Immunity” organized by FEMeeting, an international consortium of women in art, science and technology. The video questions how science, in this case the Coronavirus, is represented through media and new imaging technologies. The grey and red spiky ball that has become a visual icon for the Coronavirus was designed by Alissa Eckert, Center for Disease Control (CDC) lead medical illustrator. In branding the virus, she went with what professional medical artists call a “beauty shot”– a detailed, solo close-up. Is culture designing how we perceive nature?
About “Acquired Immunity”
https://femeeting.com/authors/
Chicago Tribune and NY Times articles on the branding of the Coronavirus
https://www.chicagotribune.com/coronavirus/ct-viz-coronavirus-how-it-was-drawn-20200403-ka4t4zyab5ejpcp5y7ukn2mb4u-story.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/01/health/coronavirus-illustration-cdc.html