New York has managed to keep the COVID-19 curve flat since June, and Governor Andrew Cuomo just announced that it just reached its 38th day with coronavirus infections below one percent. As the state begins to further open up and public transportation resumes, the New York MTA wants to make sure that its residents remain diligent about wearing face coverings with a campaign that turns the outline of the state into a “mask” in a series of stunning posters.

The campaign, titled “The State of Respect,” was created out of Brooklyn agency Conquistadors, founded by industry vet Mauricio Alarcon. To create each poster, Alarcon worked with production studio VERSUS to assemble a dozen artists from all over the world, including New York, Sydney, Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Buenos Aires. It effort accompanies the MTA’s announcement today that public transport patrons who refuse to wear a mask will be fined $50. 

In an effort to appeal to a broad demographic, the posters feature a range of styles, from photo illustration and cubist to geometric and illustrative, as well as diverse subjects across age, gender and race.

"The goal here is to achieve universal mask compliance," said Patrick J. Foye, MTA chairman and CEO in a statement. "This is about saving lives, not generating revenue and we'll work with a range of law enforcement personnel to make sure everyone is given every possible opportunity to wear a mask.”

The campaign follows the MTA’s pilot program that debuted in July that introduced surgical mask dispensers on buses across 15 different routes as well as the organization’s PPE vending machine pilot on NYC transit, the Long Island Rail Road and Metro North.