Removing the Mask

We all wear masks, and the time comes when we cannot remove them without removing some of our own skin.” ― André Berthiaume

Oscar Wilde’s cite “Give a man a mask and he will tell you the truth” reflects that idea, that men usually feel freer behind a mask, however, I’d argue, it is not that they feel freer, it’s that they are actually freer. But, free of what? one would ask, well probably free of himself.

This is a second post about Masks, in the first post, I explored the idea that in today’s world everybody wears a mask, but what about when we need to remove the mask, can we do it without letting go part of our own essence?

Who doesn’t remember the shocking scene of the orgy in the last Stanley Kubrick’s film “Eyes Wide Shut” where all participants are wearing Venetian carnival masks that have a reputation for being a symbol of moral “disorder” and eroticism. So, behind the masks they can be the depraved,  vicious, shameless beings that they really are, for them, the real “mask” is the one they wear daily when they wear no mask.

This image is part of a series called “Removing the Mask” that visually explore the pain that for many of us “removing the mask” means.



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