The Mask

The African mask has appeared in various forms and has been adapted in countless ways in Western art as a typification of ceremonial masquerade. In the 2016 Brooklyn Museum exhibition titled Disguise: Masks and Global African Art, twenty-five contemporary artists attempted to bridge the gap between mask and masquerade by both historically contextualizing and re-creating the part that the African mask and masquerade play today. The Helmet Mask (Gbetu) with Raffia Costume was created during the early to mid-20th century. The unidentified Gola artist utilized wood, pigment, metal, and raffia to create the work. The dimensions of the work are 93 by 48 inches, or 236.2 by 121.9 centimeters. The work was created in Grand Cape Mount or Lofa County,…

After VW I ended, I was on a roll! Using the open mic had been going awesome! Excitement about using the mask was followed by a bit of anxiety. Initially, I was under the impression that getting used to and adapting to the mask would be easy. It was with great ease I was able to set up the mask with my laptop and DNS. One of the 1st things I dictated was my Week 1 discussion post. The mask was working well with Dragon and seemed to be hearing me. One of the 1st obvious challenges that I…

The Mask that Veils and Hides Laurence Dunbar’s poem titled We Wear the Mask is a story about genuine human emotion. The poem speaks on the nature of humans. Dunbar uses first-person pronouns to help connect the reader with the emotions he desires them to feel. The main emotion expressed throughout the poem is fear. The fear is of others seeing someone for who they really are inside, and not the mask that they portray. The mask is used to display feelings that are not real to hide what lies…

´´ A mask expresses at the same time the maximum of life and the maximum of death; it partakes of the visible and of the invisible, of the apparent and absolute, ´´ said Barrault (1961: 77), however, what is a mask, what is the maximum of life, death, the invisible and visible ? To a great extent, I agree with the statement, but as Shujoy Chowdhury claimed, “behind every "Truth" there is always a "Lie". Evaluating contrasting masks like the Japanese Noh Masks, Neutral masks or African masks will…

There are three kinds of masks, the single face mask, the mechanical mask, and the transformation mask. The single face mask is a single piece of wood. A mechanical mask is built with strings or hinges (after Europeans), which might allow a mask to open and close it~s mouth or eyes. The transformation mask is the most complex kind of mask. It consists of an outer mask that opens up to reveal an inner mask form, which might also open up to reveal a third mask form! Transformations masks are…

many reasons to mask an identity, from superheroes to indians to safety, people have always found ways to hide themselves. In Latifa’s, My Forbidden Face, Latifa is a woman crushed under the Taliban's harsh ruling. These Taliban do not allow the women to go outside of their house without a large burqa covering themselves. William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet ends with the death of both Romeo and Juliet. They are members of rival families who fall in love at a masked party. Lord of the Flies,…

Prologue The night I unfortunately was removed from my family was the worst thing that could ever happen to me. It all happened so quickly; therefore, I couldn’t do anything to stop it! Thrashing and screaming, but I went down a fighter. The diversity of masks and distorted faces that watched me thrash the way through, whispering and bickering as I had been thrown into the middle of the crowd. The rain poured down as I sat there, shakily; my breath was heavy and unsteady, sounding really…

The Masquerade Would you believe me if I told you that wearing a mask could save your life? For centuries slaves and captives had to mask their real feelings to survive in their new environment. They had to pretend that things were ok and life was good to survive their circumstances. While reading the books Night and Olaudah Equiano there is a reoccurring theme of being in denial and content, during their horrific experiences. Both books tell the personal and tragic stories of the captivation…

cover, or in this case, a mask, to conceal their true purpose. A famous actor and comedian, Robin Williams, can be suspected of wearing a mask to camouflage his depression. In the NBA, Donald Sterling, can also be suspected of wearing a mask to camouflage his racism. A well known singer, R. Kelly, would leave one to question if he was wearing a mask to harbor his vulgar character. All of these men can perhaps…

From comic book heroes to the ordinary teacher, masks have been a part of our life, whether we are traveling through the worlds of Marvel or just searching for evidence about who we truly are. Kenneth Gergen in his essay, “The Defense of Masks,” talks about the necessities that forces people to employ masks which will tend to hide their true identity. Things such as being with those you are comfortable with or being in front of the chairmen for an important business firm demonstrate that…