Describing Idea

I'm very interested in the idea of masks. They make you able to hide your identity, whether that be good or bad, to have others not have pre conceived ideas about who you are. Even though they're a way of covering up who you are they are also a way of showing exactly who you are, you get to start over in a way, you might be able to talk to people in a way you weren't able to before. They were used to put everybody on the same level, peasants would be able to attend the same balls the rich were and with the same rules and standards too.

First Drawing of Mask

Paragraph Describing Reasearch

Basically Masquerades was a place were rich, poor, female, or male could go and potentially be themselves. These Masquerades were a way to bring every person to the same level with the same rules. There could be royalty and slaves there and they all were thought to be equal. Even if you could recognize someone with a mask on you were not supposed to say anything, to the person or to any one else.

Masquerade Mask Research

1-Venice is the centre for masquerade masks. Carnevale is a pre-lent celebration and has been established since the middle ages. Splendid decorated gondola processions were organised along the Grand Canal.

The elaborate masks were a way of escaping the very strict rules surrounding moral behaviour and standards. People of different social class were not encouraged to mix. During Carnevale everyone, be it a king or a servant would be addressed as Sior Maschera or Mr. Mask. A masked person, due to the anonymity of the mask could gain access to places, which were normally forbidden and could shed inhibitions. Even if you recognised the person, you would not make it known. Some masks made it impossible to tell if the wearer was male or female. Many an illicit affair continued under the secrecy of the mask.

Carnival was outlawed by the fascist government in the 1930s. It was not until a modern mask shop was founded in the 1980s that Carnival enjoyed a revival.

2-The masks are secured to your face by 1 of three ways:

• Elastic - fixed at either side of the mask. The elastic goes around the back of your head and is a flexible fit for everyone.
• Headband - The mask is secured on a headband. The benefit to the wearer is that you are able to move the mask, up to the top of your head, and out of the way, as the evening progresses.
• Stick - The mask is fixed to a stick that you hold in your hand. The advantages of this, is that your hairstyle is not messed up. On the downside, you do need to hold the mask to your face, which may become tedious after a while.

3- The main reason and the only real reason for people wanting to wear masks back in the day was to conceal their identity. That is why we use the word masquerade and the word mask comes from this. It means to disguise yourself and to hide who you really are.

4-   For hundreds of years people, rich or poor, beautiful or plain, black or white, male or female have been making and using masks for masquerade ball. Did you ever wonder what the attraction is? Why do we like to dress up in our masquerade costumes and pay particular attention to themasquerade mask? Where did this tradition start? What was it inside of us that made us want to ‘hide’, for lack of a better word, behind a mask while we socialize, romp and have the time of our lives?

Did you ever hear the term, ‘we all wear masks’? Being social creatures we were brought up to follow certain conventions and rules because they were universally considered good manners or at the very least, the least offensive way to behave. When we think about it, being socially accepted and popular among the other members of our species takes quite a great deal of work and brain power. What is worse is that these rules often change year to year or even day to day depending on exactly what socio-economic category we are taking on. They can even be totally different as our location varies. You are a completely different person at home than what you are at work and if any idiot tells you that he or she knows you in a sarcastic way, ask them how that is possible since they don’t even know themselves most of the time. That is the truth; we have totally lost our true selves in the haze of society that we have created to make sure the wheels of said society run smooth and with the least difficulty.

That is the great irony of the human social phenomenon called the masquerade ball. The fact that we have decreed that it is ‘normal and proper’ to wear masquerade masks at this time has perhaps become a time for us to express what we have inside ourselves. It lets us be ourselves by allowing ourselves to cover our faces and avoid ridicule or whatever other consequences stop us from freeing our true selves. We certainly are not perfect but with no self knowledge, there cannot be a self improvement and perhaps no chance for the eventual perfection of our species. Thus, a simple social gathering such as a masquerade ball or party suddenly becomes a lot more than it seems. It allows us to explore the true part of ourselves, the more creative part, the part that, if there were a spirit world at all, would be most in touch with it.

5-In the eleventh century, the Catholic Church banned the festivities several times, but the influential and wealthy Venetian politicians and clergy convinced the Church to relent with the condition that the participants would wear the masquerade attire only between Christmas and Shrove Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday. The Venetian Carnival became a hedonistic celebration with an "anything goes" attitude prior to the days of religious abstinence. But from this time on, the wearing of the masks became "more" than a once a year tradition for the powerful in Venetian society. The intrigues of the city politics, signing of important documents and year-round illicit affairs kept the aristocracy wearers of masks unrecognizable to fellow citizens of Venice. Anonymity became the norm rather than the holiday extravaganza of the masquerade of Carnival for the Venetian ruling class.

Octahedron

annimation

Pixelated Self Portrait

Photoshop Context

Hand in Context

Llama Animation

Simple Animation