Power Mask

In her book ‘Aveux Non Avenus, 1930, transgender artist Claude Cahun famously said ‘that “under this mask, another mask. I will never finish removing all these faces.’” Hers, represented the deliberately shaped fragments of an identity, that of the writer, the artist and the transgender. But so are we all like Cahun resorting to the power of the mask? How many of these one can, and needs to wear? And do masks hide or reveal us? In the Power of Masks, Belgian designer Walter van Beirendonck makes a generous exposure to an avalanche of masks, beautifully pointing to their meanings and purposes throughout different cultures. Whether we like to wear masks for ritualistic, fetishistic or theatrical reasons, Beirendonck shows us that there are more to the mask than simply, hiding games.