On March 28, four days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a 21-day lockdown across the country to combat Covid-19, a photograph from Chennai went nearly as viral as the pandemic that has the world in its grasp. The image showed Chennai policeman Rajesh Babu wearing a crown-like, crimson helmet shaped like the coronavirus that causes Covid-19. Created by artist B Gowtham, the helmet added considerable drama to Babu’s attempts to enforce the lockdown.

Gowtham has since become a minor celebrity, being inundated with requests for media interviews. “I feel bad that there was so much art that I created before which did not get any attention, and it took a global crisis like the coronavirus for people to pay attention to what I am doing,” Gowtham told Scroll.in.

Rajesh Babu is posted at the Villivakkam V1 police station. Gowtham lives nearby. Seeing that people were stepping out onto the streets “for silly reasons” despite being asked to self-isolate, Gowtham initially created a coronavirus-themed banner with plywood at his home studio and gave it to Rajesh Babu.

The banner wasn’t effective enough, so Gowtham decided to modify a helmet. The coronavirus’s unique shape was crafted out of newspaper.

Since then, Gowtham has fine-tuned the helmet, creating what he calls a “coronavirus warrior package”. This includes the helmet, a coronavirus-themed mace as well as a shield.

“Right now, everyone has to be a warrior to fight the coronavirus,” Gowtham said. “So the mace is to keep one away at a one-metre distance and the shield is to protect yourself. Only if you protect yourself can you protect the nation.” The mace has been fashioned out of a damaged volleyball and a wooden reaper. The shield is made out of plywood.

The Bengaluru Police have also begun wearing coronavirus-themed helmets while staging skits to warn people off the streets. These accessories have not been made by Gowtham, and he doesn’t approve of the theatrics. “The purpose isn’t to entertain but educate – this is a serious matter,” he noted.

Although Gowtham trained as a mechanical engineer, he has decided to work in commercial art. The 27-year-old artist has also been applying his skills to raise awareness about threats to the environment. His mantra is “Forget the ego and maintain the eco.”

“I am a true-blue Chennai-ite,” Gowtham explained. “I love the city as much as I love art, and it would pain me to see how people were harming the environment with their habits, like littering beaches. Creating art is my superpower, and one should use their superpower to help people.”

His environmental art projects include a Walk for Plastic initiative in 2019, which involved clearing single-use and recyclable plastic from the streets and neighbourhoods of Chennai. Gowtham created a 23-foot wide killer whale with plastic bottle caps and exhibited it at Chennai’s beaches.

Gowtham’s Instagram page says that he is currently working on a “3rd creative” related to the novel coronavirus. Although he would not reveal what this project entailed, we can be sure that it will go viral too, like his distinctive helmets.

“I love corona – it’s making us understand that we humans are one among many others on the planet, like earthworms and dragonflies,” Gowtham said. “How easily this virus has made us sit in our homes for weeks.”