17 · 2010
Dissonant scapes · Liminal: Syntaxes
Psyche, Shallot-sliced
- Year
- 2010
- Venue
- Dissonant scapes — Liminal: Syntaxes
- Materials
- Drypoint, etching, latex, mixed media, steel, aluminium, wood, nylon, paper
- Dimensions
- 190 × 150 cm (overall)
What is the true self? The pieces explore the varied layers and dimensions of personality that exist within a person and the masks or facades that we each have to put on.
A multi-part work: seven mixed-media artworks framed in wire and suspended on a wall; a sculptural piece in steel, aluminium, wood and nylon on a pedestal; and a drypoint on paper.
The starting point was the ‘withheld’. The following poem by Paul Laurence Dunbar was a direct source of inspiration for the piece.
We wear the mask that grins and lies, It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,— This debt we pay to human guile; With torn and bleeding hearts we smile, And mouth with myriad subtleties. Why should the world be over-wise, In counting all our tears and sighs? Nay, let them only see us, while We wear the mask. We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries To thee from tortured souls arise. We sing, but oh the clay is vile Beneath our feet, and long the mile; But let the world dream otherwise, We wear the mask!
Details — 3 images
