Make a Mask of Yourself

      

This post will work as a brief documentation of the first brief I have received at LCA-'Make a Mask of Yourself'.

I started by thinking quite literally about my physical appearance and jotting down things I might exaggerate through the mask. This included things like my glasses, moustache and buck teeth, and I had an early idea to actually use my real glasses and slot them into the mask. I then moved on to doodling drawings of my whole face to get an idea of what elements to put together for the mask, eventually opting for glasses, moustache and long hair.

I then started planning how I might fit the mask together, deciding to build it around an old pair of glasses so it might work in the same way as the common 'Groucho Marx' mask that you find in party shops. I also thought it interesting that that mask has become so ubiquitous, despite being based on one particular man's face. I thought it might work well to echo the idea of something so personal and specific becoming somewhat detached from its original character, as if my face could achieve the same commonality.

I then started cutting all of the pieces out of cardboard so I could assemble them. I started with the nose, which was designed so that it would fit over my own nose and was a very simple construction.

I then created the moustache, again in a very simple manner, gluing thin strips of cardboard onto a sort of template shape. 

Then I attached the nose to the glasses and blotted out the lenses with cardboard so my eyes would not be visible and it would have a more impersonal feel. 




I then added the moustache, attached to the nose at a height which would cover my mouth when I had it on.

















For the hair, I attached larger pieces of cardboard to the arms of the glasses and connected them over the top of my head, I also added curtains at the front .

For the final photograph, I wore a balaclava underneath the mask to give the impression there was no face behind it, like the exaggerated elements of my face were just floating above my shoulders which I feel worked quite well.