The amazing adventures of Hasse Mat
a graphic diary
March 2020. Corona is raging in Southern Europe, and the virus has made its entry into Denmark. On March 11th, the Danish government declares a national lockdown, effective from monday the 16th.
The day after the lockdown, I finished a job for a client in central Copenhagen and went out in the streets. They were empty. The Danes say: “there were two whores and a pickpocket” when there is no-one around. But not even the whores or the pickpockets were anywhere to be seen. As I walked down the deserted street Strøget, all by myself, Hasse Mat* came to life. (*Hazmat Suit)
I kept thinking about him over the next few days and decided to post a picture a day on Facebook and Instagram featuring Hasse in this new normal. Somewhat naive, I imagined doing so for a couple of weeks, and then things would slowly return to normal.
But sixty illustrations later, we were still in the process of opening society again after the first wave.
What were to be only a few illustrations turned out to be a long story, a diary, an epic journey, about a man going nowhere. A guy trying to get by in a world that suddenly stopped.
The visuals in chronological order
The Amazing adventures of Hasse Mat - The book
I published a book - a visual diary with all the illustrations
Created a pop-up webshop and sold it together with posters.