Student Work, Masked Identity

Tashina Wells

Inspired by Donnie Darko's Bunny Mask. 

Alex Latourrette

The overall intention for this piece was to create a knight-like figure. A knight is a symbol of strength and loyalty. Being part of a new generational family I often look at our military history and how the world becomes a battlefield for everybody in one way or another.  Armor is useful to protect your self not just in times of violence but also in times of turmoil and self doubt. The armor is more for the psyche than the body. The image also contains influences from my South American ancestry in the white blanket cloth for the body and the Inca inspired design for the head piece.

Shannon Frye

One of the most important aspects of my identity is the fact that I have a twin sister. Because we are so close, I often find myself thinking in terms of "we" instead of "me". I'm not completely myself unless we're together. Another aspect of my identity is my love for reading. My favorite fiction series involves Greek and Roman mythology and my favorite Roman god is Janus. Janus is the god of beginnings, transitions, doorways, passages, endings and time. He is usually depicted as having two faces, since he looks to the future and to the past. I am attracted to this idea because as a twin I often feel like I'm walking around with two heads on one body. However, at this point in my life, themes like transitions and beginnings are something I've grown accustomed to. As a college student, I'm constantly thinking about my future and which paths and doors are available to me. 

The mask I made visually represents aspects of my identity discussed above. There are four forms resembling facial profiles pointing in four different directions, representative of a crossroads, indicating the different directions I could take. The heads are all leaning forward as if they are trying to decide for themselves which way to go; to break away. As a twin, I've experienced the struggle of trying to "break away," but it is extremely hard to go your own way when you are so connected to another person. All of the heads are what I would call "similar but different".  I've used this phrase many times to describe my sister and I, since we are physically similar but personally different. The position of the heads is reminiscent of Janus, the two-headed god of  doors, gates and transitions. I added another set of heads to increase the sense of movement.