Handle with Care Bio:

The ‘Handle With Care’ series began in March 2020 in consultation with Pacific Health Plus (PHP), Porirua, and in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Tuffery had only recently returned from China when COVID-19 came to international attention. He recalled being in Samoa during the 2019 measles and the tragic loss of so many young lives there. As COVID-19 ravaged Italy’s elders, Tuffery considered who would be most vulnerable if and when the virus arrived in Aotearoa New Zealand. The ‘Handle with Care’ campaign was designed to convey simple messaging directly to Māori and Pasifika communities, and frontline and ‘essential’ workers disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. The series adapts vintage postage stamps from Aotearoa and other Pacific Islands and adopts the familiar caution written on posted packages: ‘FRAGILE Handle With Care’. The images were initially displayed in public spaces as posters printed by PHP on their in-house printer—the only printing available during Level 4 restrictions.

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Health Stamps, combining postage with a donation to charity in their purchase price, have a long history in Aotearoa. First appearing in December 1929, featuring a nurse and the inscription ‘Help stamp out tuberculosis’, they were issued annually until 2016 in support of charitable causes, and many have become collectible. While encouraging community members to “stamp out” coronavirus by staying home, washing hands, and wearing masks, Tuffery’s ‘Handle with Care’ series also emphasizes ties to ancestry and culture as part of a holistic approach to healthcare. Mask- and glove- wearing ancestors urge their descendants to ‘protect all of our communities’, while the nostalgia of historical images conveys the need for particular care of elders and their wisdom.