Artist and designer Max Siedentopf has apologised for offending people with his photos of home-made coronavirus masks, adding that his work aims to take people "out of their comfort zone".
"I apologise to everyone that felt offended by the series, it was never my intention," the Namibian-German artist told Dezeen.
"Most of my work takes a critical and often ironical look at our surroundings," he added. "It's important for me to take people out of their comfort zone and see things from a different perspective, both positively and negatively."
"But, ultimately, it's up to them to interpret my work as they want to."
The series of images, called How-To Survive A Deadly Global Virus, triggered angry comments from Dezeen readers, with many describing the project as insensitive and offensive. Commenter A. Gil described the project as "insensitive and misinforming" while KauKau said it "risks spreading misinformation". Reader 73,336 and counting called Dezeen's post "an idiotic, insensitive and dangerous article".
Seidentopft created the series after seeing online images of people who fashioned makeshift masks out of household items out of fear of contracting coronavirus.
His images include models wearing masks made of vegetables, underwear and shoes.

Approximately 2,000 people have died after contracting the coronavirus, which originated in Wuhan, China. The virus has now spread to other countries ar...