Masks

I see a similarity between my masks and the death masks. It is used to cover or hide one’s identity. “The mask has a deeper meaning. It teaches us that none of us are quite what we seem, even to ourselves.”  My masks relates to the pre-modern era through the concept of offence/defense. It is used to hide the true identity of the person behind it. Women for years have been defined as a blank face. We are not more than our looks. My mask portrays this sentiment. It is attacking a culture that places males as the dominant sex and views women first and foremost for beauty alone and not what she has so say or can contribute. In the post modern era my mask portrays the sentiment that the mask distorts who we really are, that asks us to be satisfied with appearances instead of substance. It is a mask that reveals barely a shadow of our true selves.

My mask would most likely fall under the category of expressionism. Expressionism is defined as “The artist's subjective expression of inner experiences emphasized; an inner feeling is expressed through a distorted rendition of reality” Naturally I do not walk around with a blue mask on all day; however, we all walk around with a face that, if we wish it or not, is a mask. Many times females are judged by the “mask” we wear. I used the blue mask to represent a blank slate and all that is emphasized is the beauty of females. There is no mouth showing expressing the inner experience that females are many times judged solely based on looks and not on what they have to say, who they are, or who God made them to be.

            My mask relates to my portraits in the ideas behind them. My ideal vs. real portraits are supposed to portray the concept of being trapped vs. being free. This same concept can be expressed in the mask. We are often trapped behind it and would like to be free of the judgments we receive by others. My mask is mostly defined by the script culture has given us. Many of this script come from socialization with others and their judgments of us. Advertising and propaganda also shoves down our throats this “ideal” beautiful woman. That has become the ultimate goal of women and has placed unrealistic pressures on the appearance and what women need to do to be able to sustain this role. It gives us this false hope that once we reach this certain weight or buy this makeup and become beautiful, then people won’t judge us based on our looks anymore and they will finally listen to what we actually have to say. This leads to a loss in the individual and the uniqueness that makes us who we are. We must break from this pattern. In the image of God we are perfectly made and we must rest in the freedom that he gives us.