A Thorough Investigation of The Mask (History/ Social culture/ Artists/ Film)
An Extension of The Social Issue Work Theme

Key Words: mask, research, history, Siba Sahabi, Tomasz Machnik, double-dealer, psychological problems, photography, photoshop

— < Mask and Rose >

— The Idea of Making This Project

Since the topic this time is about discussing the problems existing in the society, I plan to make this topic according to some common and accessible ones around me.

In the first moment after I knew this topic, I thought about “double-dealer “. Such people are not uncommon in today’s society, and for these people, the most common thing they do in their daily life is to put on their “mask”.

Therefore, in this primary research, I first conducted a thorough research on masks.

—Research on Masks in History/ Artists/ Films

· History in Ancient Time

Because I need to understand the reasons why people make and wear masks, I choose to investigate masks in all aspects instead of simply describing them.

In the course of history, I have chosen to focus on China, Japan and Africa. Like the first mask in the history of the world, They were created to protect themselves by hiding their identity from attack.

According to legend, the world’s first mask in the Neolithic Age was a ceramic mask,which appeared in the Neolithic age.It is currently housed in the French Museum collection.

· History in World War Two Period and Victorian Age

Because of the war, Edward, who had lost half his face, could not accept the deformity of his face, so he chose “death” to change his identity. As an artist, he made grotesque masks to hide the scars on his face and his true self. Due to the serious injury and unclear pronunciation, Edward seldom spoke, so the mask became his vocal cylinder, and different shapes of masks represented different identities and different moods.

Venetian masks are handmade by professional artists, they are genuine works of art and have special collectors. And most masks of the Victorian era were used in operas or films, and each mask represented different meanings, such as “Gatto” and “Bauta” in my research.

· Artists

German persona series mask art design—— Siba Sahabi

Designer Siba was fascinated by the relationship between images and reality and created this wooden mask called Persona.

The nature of individualism is explored in nine giant masks that resemble wearable sculptures that cover only part of the face. After it wearing people can keep their distance and communicate with each other at the same time.

My Feeling: profound, concise style, different architectural models, different expressive meanings.

Paragraph 21 unique imaginative creation mask, he made she make gallery photographer, Tomasz Machnik

Bertjian pot turned flat creates into three-dimensional masks.

· Film or music drama with masks

In the history of film, people who wear masks are very polarized, and masks have certain unique meanings in their eyes.

In Movies and TV Series, good people wear masks to hide their identity in the public or as a symbol to be familiar to everyone. Just like the Superheroes in Marvel or DC, they wear a mask to protect themselves as ordinary people under the mask, or as a symbol to let everyone know who is coming.

On the other hand, just like the first film In the history of the film, <Halloween>, which adopted masks throughout the whole process. Most of the masks worn by bad people have become a symbol with unique meanings, and the masks have become their spokesmen. They wear masks for the same reasons that decent people do, because they have experienced something that happened to them.

— The Production After The Research

· The psychological significance of the mask includes the understanding of “two-faced man”

The psychological significance of the mask includes the understanding of “double-dealer”.

Nietzsche once said, “Man always likes to wear a mask that is more beautiful than himself.”
The concept of a mask of personality comes from Greek rites and plays, in which a person wearing a mask identifies with and performs the functions of the role he or she plays.

Jung think in psychology, personality is not negative implications, because the personality mask is the essential means to perform social function, social function of any position requires a certain social expectation of image match, in fact, for a healthy mind, often can according to different situations demand different personality mask role successfully.
In this sense, the personality mask is public, but the overly formulated personality mask will excessively suppress the self, which will not only have the possibility of losing personality, serious cases will make the self after taking off the personality mask, find the sense of self fragile to the degree of crisis.
The intense anxiety of not knowing what to play without a personality mask is, for some souls, an opportunity to reorient their lives and even turn to deeper experiences. That is, from the defensive mask to the face of the shadow of the process of growth.

My Understanding: A mask is a false self-subject, a way of dealing with real life with a false and unreal feeling. Use your masked self to interact with the world around you, while your real self will be watching from behind.
Just like people with inflated egos, who often do bad things, are hiding their inner insecurities and low self-esteem. Those who are overconfident and narcissistic are using an exaggerated mask to cover up their weak ego.

· The reason why I chose to use masks as the production medium

When I first came into contact with this subject, I was thinking about extracting and making projects from the phenomena I had or the bad habits I had but now abandoned. I chose the common social phenomenon of “double-dealer” as my topic because I have become such a person at certain times, and this phenomenon also happens around me from time to time.

· Content concept of the work

As a victim of this “mask”, no matter whether the intention is good or not, there is no denying that it has brought me varying degrees of influence. I chose different masks to try to embody different meanings. In terms of costume, I chose the representative Victorian costume, because people in that era used to wear robes and various masks at parties. The rose represents anything good that people want to get from the society. Therefore, they will abandon the real themselves and wear masks to cover up their shortcomings, so that they can get the identity and get the rose.

Among this group of pictures, I did not reveal the face from beginning to end, he reason for this is because here the “mask” represents the face of them, they need plays a different role in different times, so they also will require a different mask. They will render this mask into white again after they got what they want. This face is everything to them, a part of them that has grown on top of their flesh.

Throughout the shoot, I used black and white colors and some simple post-processing. So you can see in this series of images, the rose is always red, and the rest of the image is black and white. The person in the mask is “we,” in whose eyes nothing else matters, except the rose, which represents power, interest, wealth and all that is good.

· Some ideas discarded in the production process

Among the many masks purchased, I only chose a plain white mask in the end. Because I think the mask that is too pompous may not achieve the final effect. People who really have this kind of thought are single-minded at that particular time and focus on one thing, and they will have different ideas at different times. Like a rainbow wheel turning white at a certain speed, I chose an all-white mask to express the idea that it covers all categories.

In terms of clothing, the first costume I bought was a female Victorian costume, because my model was a female, but later I chose a gender-neutral cloak again. In order not to deliberately distinguish between the sexes, I wanted to express the idea that it could be a male or a female.

— < Mask and Rose >

— Want to improve the work and how to implement

Choose a shooting site with more representative meaning and concentration. The props purchased can be made by hand in the later stage to make the photos more refined.