Masks

We all wear metaphorical masks as we go about our daily lives. I’m not saying people are false, I’ve just observed that we all have different sides to us that we show at different times and to different people. The way a person is seen is subjective not only to the actual person but to onlookers. It can be as fleeting a moment as it can be ongoing.

In the last few years I realised I have a condition called Prosopagnosia, also known as face blindness. It’s where you have difficulty recognising people’s faces. Prior to me knowing I had this people thought me rude when I didn’t recognise them even if I had had a long conversation with them a few hours before! I wonder if they had they been wearing an obviously recogniseable individually made mask might I have recognised them? I do know however I recognise famous people (although I don’t necessarily know where I know them from unless they are prolific)!

This series of portraits is inspired by this condition and is a general play on how people wear daily masks whilst going about their daily lives.