Beneath the Mask

As we discuss the various forms and reasons for masks--offense/defense, gender, festivals of renewal, theater, and rites of passage-- it seems to me that this brief movie creates a strong juxtaposition between the face/mask that is obvious and shown outside the bathroom and in public as opposed to the face/mask that is present and seen in the isolation of the bathroom. With the shift from color to black and white and with the switch from a smooth, gold mask to a more textured and unpolished mask that is white and devoid of any rich color. This shift, along with the contemplative piano solo playing in the background creates a mood that questions. As I watch this short film I am moved to question why the girl is wearing the mask. Moreover, near the end when she takes to mask off, one would expect to see her face in the mirror, to find renewal or redemption in her act of removing the first mask, but instead beneath her mask is another. This movie uses mask in the form of a defensive mechanism. Whether the girl is trying to cover up her second, white mask, or more deeply, is trying to cover that which may be beneath the second mask is unknown. However, what can be perceived is the complexity to masks. As our lives often show us, we are not able to easily put on or take off our masked selves. Sometimes, we become so accustomed to our masked selves that we are unable to distinguish between masked and unmasked. Also, at times amidst the confusion we are unable to distinguish between the multiple roles, multiple masks we are donning .

Keep Breathing

Our Landscape

Landscape: (noun, often attributive \ˈlan(d)-ˌskāp\) - : a particular area of activity

As I consider life and any attempts to characterize and reduce it down to a conceivable definition, I am continuously reminded of the diversity found throughout our world. As I try to decide what is representative of a significant landscape here in 2010 I remember all of the exceptions to the rule, the cultural variety that contradicts our assumptions, and even our own personal complexity, I am confronted with an intense difficulty to find universal commonalities, a landscape that is felt by all. With this in mind, I resolved to work within these limitations, and to accept that my experience is limited, but no less true. My experiences, though not universal or applicable to everyone, are my own and therefore one of the few places from which I can begin to take steps to understand the world around me.

I took a picture and created an image of someone holding a laptop, using a blackberry, and listening to an ipod. Based upon the broad definition of a landscape as a particular area of activity, I believe that many people here in America, or in the Western World, or maybe just on this campus, spend a majority of their time interacting, working, and living alongside or on a electronic devices. Our lives are constantly spent working on computers, doing homework, emailing family, checking facebook, and editing photos. Computers are used for work and for recreation, play and entertainment. Equally, our cell phones have become very nearly an added appendage, another arm or leg, composing who we are. Phones keep us eternally connected to the world, our friends and family, they wake us up in the morning, take photos of memorable events, and sometimes become the miniature version of our computers when our laptops are not readily available. And the ipod fulfills so many people’s dream (or at least mine) of having a constant soundtrack and background music to my life. Depending on my mood, I can have a song playing in my ears, reflecting, reinforcing, or encouraging that mood. Ipods take us from one place to another, keep us company when we sit alone on the train, or travel with us as we workout, running through neighborhoods. Electronics are a major part of our lives; maybe even a major part of who we are. And since computers, cell phones, and ipods have become the terrain of major activity, they are the reason and composition for my photo of a landscape in 2010.

Compared to earthworks, as exemplified in Andy Goldsworthy, a landscape has the possibility to become more abstract or even more indoors. As my image reflects, a major landscape of 2010 need not bring to artist close to the dirt and insects found beneath a river rock, but can be that which we touch and use and utilize each and every day.