Coloured Masks

Going by the idea of needing a coloured mask to see if this would add to my work, I created these masks. I used Photoshop to slice and merge parts of some of the photos I've already taken. These are the resulting masks.

I will now print and cut these masks to use over subjects face and see how these work and photographs.

Carl Jung

Carl Gustav Jung  was a Swiss psychiatrist, an influential thinker and the founder of Analytical Psychology. His theory regarding the 'persona' is very relevant to my work.
The persona is the outward personality that an individual presents to the world. This is a mask; it is the compromise between the true individual and what is expected by society.
  In terms of gender, the persona is the reaction to gender roles and gender stereotypes created by society. Therefore, the gendered personality that an individual presents to the outside world may not be their true gender identity, it is simply a reaction to how society dictates their gender should act.

In my work, and my use of masks, I wish to present how a person's true identity, in particular their true gender identity, is hidden by this persona. The masks are made up of an indecipherable number of faces as it is created in reaction to society's views, a society made up of a huge number of people. These people's views distort an individual's true identity by covering it with the 'persona'.

Layered Masks- other subjects

I have used two different subjects with the masks that I used on myself.

I find these images interesting in the same way as the previous ones, and also the way that each mask, when used on a different subject underneath, creates a completely new character each time, even though the majority of what is seen in the image is the mask which stays the same.
I do think I need to experiment with coloured masks to see if this is more effective than black and white ones.

Layered Masks

Using the 'layered papers' I created, I have made masks by cutting parts away. I held these in front of my face in the same manner used in my previous works. These masks show less of the subjects face underneath than in my other works.

I do find these interesting. They change my face into a deformed, fragmented character, my own face barely visible underneath. One very prominent thing about these images, is that the mask is in black and white which means that it is very separate from the face underneath. I am going to use these masks on other subjects to see how it works and then experiment with creating masks that are coloured and see what impact this has for how the face underneath is seen.