Masks Outside Wat Doi Suthep, Thailand

"Oh, what a tangled web we weave, When first we practice to deceive." -Sir Walter Scott, Marmion, Canto vi. Stanza 17.

I am fascinated with masks and specifically how an object can take on a multitude of purposes of varying significance and symbolism. Throughout history masks have been donned for protection, concealment, storytelling, amusement, and performance. There has also been a significant ritualistic and/or religious aspect to wearing masks, which spans across culture and historical eras.

I first became interested in the role of masks in a college theater course where we studied traditional Japanese "noh" masks, learned about the historical traditions of "black face," and interpreted modern western commedia dell'arte and the use of puppetry, clowns and masks to entertain. However, masks are also prevalent as metaphors throughout history and indeed in our daily lives in modern society. For instance, when we wear makeup or hide behind a "mask," we further perpetuate the idea that we are something other than our true selves.

Oliver Wendell Holmes once quipped, "Without wearing any mask we are conscious of, we have a special face for each friend." Furthermore, William Somerset Maugham felt that "Sometimes people carry to such perfection the mask they have assumed that in due course they actually become the person they seem." What mask or mask(s), if any, are you wearing?