Research
When it came to research, I relied on my own and my partner’s experiences wearing masks and how we felt regarding the pandemic in the very beginning. I also listened to a podcast about the subject. Most of what we discussed will be shown in my notes, but it centers around what masks are for and dissecting with a mask WAS and IS currently.
Masking for a Friend
With cities on lockdown, animals are finding more room to roam
Exercises
Exercise 1 – Drawing masks
Before our first exercise, we drew roughly 10 “masks” each. These are the ones I drew for practice, applying them onto a drawn model head for scale. Some focus on how eyes play a huge role in the pandemic for expressing emotion whereas it’s normally our entire face that does that job. Some are very jagged and sharp, sort of examining the idea of keeping people away from you “or else”. Lastly, others play into the virus’s nature and are gross such as the “yellow fuzz” one and the “green alien” one. These are about the virus itself and stand to present the wearer as infected.
Exercise 2 – Making a mask
One of the first exercises we did was to make a make something simple and then my partner and I slowly built off of it. We started with a slice of paper and then it slowly grew into a mask or something to conceal the face. The last step was to make it wearable using paper straps stapled to the front and sides of the mask.
These little exercises helped me think of how I wanted my mask to feel and to be worn. Would it be comfortable and can I see when I wear it? Stuff like that. Moving forward, my partner and I would begin thinking of our narrative. We took a lot of notes, examining what our narrative would be and how our masks would be connected through it. One of the biggest things we began discussing was “texture” and its use in the masks.
Iterations
We started a rough draft of what our narrative could be. Both of us were interested in the mental health and identity affects the pandemic has had on people but wanted to compare these darker realities to something else. Well, if you can remember, there were a lot of stories about animals roaming cities in the year 2020 just as the pandemic forced people inside. We continued to look into these crazy stories and saw that animals in both the ocean and on land were getting comfortable and traveling into locations they generally never went to because of our absence. This idea of Man and Nature was getting discussed which pushed us to start thinking of different themes within that concept. The one we agreed upon was highlighting mankind’s reality as well as nature’s during this isolation period.
I chose the theme of “decay” where my partner’s theme was “growth”. One thing I started working with was making a mask that utilizes texture in a way that causes uneasiness. Masks from classic horror films also inspired me, especially a mask such as Michael Myers who, in one film, has a very rundown and dirty looking mask which shows the wear and tear of the many years he’s been around (opposed to his plain white mask from the original film). These iterations feature eye holes and a mask stitched onto the surface of the mask to represent how masks were becoming a part of us as people in light of the pandemic.
One idea was to use the eye holes as “windows” to the soul. The eyes would have a sliding mechanism that showed multiple expressions our eyes make that the wearer would slide around to express themselves while still being completely concealed. I built the mechanism but the images have been lost, but it was a pretty basic thing. I eventually came around to not like the eye holes. I felt that it conflicted with the idea of “concealed identity”, so I scrapped it and decided that it was entirely conflicting to show any sense of the facial or have any access to it (such as the mask that opens up, super goofy) and started iterating on a more abstract mask in my sketchbook.
As for the textures, they would be the only thing used by the person to express their emotions. The textures would be present as not only an expression of the wearer but to the viewer, something for them to identify with. The ideas I had with texture led me to experiment with paper mache as more than a structural aspect but also another tactile thing the viewers can interact with. Appealing to my theme of “decay”, I felt that it would really play into it by having the mask peel like skin. I practiced the paper mache structure and tearing aspect with multiple paper masks, as well as how to form the face.
These practice masks helped solidify the applications of paper mache in the context of my narrative and also allowed me to rethink how I could make it “tearable” and virtually self-destructive in this way. My solution was to layer different paper on top of the base facial structure which is made of thicker drawing paper. I would use tissue paper going from red paper to white and red mixed, to just plain white. As you tear the paper away from this abstract and lifeless mask, you’ll see the real human features like muscle beneath the skin. To finalize the mask, I also did a little texture testing which consisted of me just finding textures that fit the descriptions I wrote for the two being soft and weak and sturdy and rough.
I needed the fabrics to be planar and also easily or semi-easily conformable to a solid surface. I looked at different blankets and some recycled rugs from my friend’s workplace that I could’ve used. The carpet of my apartment is incredibly discomforting to walk on and very often I think about how much I hate it. Luckily, my landlord left a huge patch of it in my closet for no reason, so I decided to test cut it into patches and I liked how it felt (in this very particular context) so there I found my rough texture.
In class, there were also some recycled fabrics, and one caught my eye.
Another important decision I needed to make was about how it would be worn. I felt an elastic string was easy and in my tests was strong enough and secure enough to be put on quickly. I thought this fit within the narrative, especially considering how natural putting a mask on is nowadays for me, I figured the string would be as well. I continued testing however and even went back to my past sketches which showed many different strings which would secure the mask even more as if to prevent removal. I liked this idea but when I searched for things I could recycle or acquire that would almost “lock” it into place, I had no luck. I decided to just stick with the string because I had a lot of it and I would argue the speed at which this mask can be put on is far more important, basically a quick shield from people who may “stop by” or when you’re walking into a restaurant or public space. In those situations, speed would be crucial in putting the mask on.
At last, the mask was finalized and I’d begin production.
Concept Statement/Narrative
Covid-19, a virus killing mass numbers of people, has impacted all aspects of life. Its effects on human health have been detrimental both physically and mentally due to a call for isolation in an attempt to limit the spread of the virus. The same isolation that left humans reeling has in turn provided the opportunity for nature to turn inward and begin healing itself. Man and nature are equally impacted by the new normal the pandemic has created. Man finds themself broken down, lacking identity and that by which they defined themself. Instead, they are overcome by confusion, anger, and fear which lead to a desperate need for comfort. Society itself falls apart as familiarity is stripped away, the process of which leaves man emotionally raw. Meanwhile, at the beginning of Covid, nature began to thrive. Heavily polluted waters became clear and animals were found in greater abundance as air and noise pollution decreased, but it wasn’t long before man needed nature again. With the mass production of medical supplies, pollution began to increase. Similarly, destructive actions such as illegal hunting and fishing began taking place to soothe a food shortage, and an increase in hikers and tourists destroyed many habitats. Man turned back to nature in an attempt to heal itself, and nature suffered the consequences.
Production
Production was fairly straightforward. It started with making the main structure on top of a plastic Halloween mask. I chose this mask in particular because it provided the facial contours I wanted: a tight fit for the nose, chin, forehead, and lips. It can be worn by anyone and that’s what appealed to me and my narrative.
I mixed white glue with about a cup of water to create a very liquidy glue that would wet the paper enough to allow it to conform to the mask easily and also stick together. Placing strips of paper on the forehead, sides, and covering the mouth holes and eye holes, I formed the face and allowed it to dry before moving on.
After I got the structure down, I applied the texture patches which were placed on the mask to get a sense of how they’d conform, and then they were outlined with a marker and cut into shape. After I applied the soft blanket, I started putting the red tissue paper on. The carpet patch was very old and stiff, making it difficult to work with. I would apply this later as it was soaking in a bath of diluted cleaning liquid to hopefully get whatever old gunk was on it off and to loosen the dry plater-like material off of the bottom.
Once the red tissue paper was fairly dry, I began layering the white and red-lined paper on top, adding the rough patch, and then layering the white paper on top of everything.
The white and red-lined paper would be really veiny, demonstrating the more life-like human aspects as you got closer to the red part. I continued to layer the paper on, nothing too crazy.
I added the white layers and let them dry a bit before I would take the carpet patch, now dried, and glue it to the surface, using pins and clips to hold it in place as it adhered. In the meantime, I would start making my wire face out of 2mm thick black wire. This wire would be attached to the inside of the mask using my thick drawing paper and more glue to conform to its shape and then dry, keeping it in place. It was difficult making the wire face fit the face of the mask because the mask was in an awkward position due to the clips and other parts drying, so I went through several faces. Another problem I ran into was finding the exact amount of wire. This wasn’t too bad because I had acquired upwards of 50 feet of it so I just went through and made more and more abstractions of my face to use and then I’d just pick the one I liked the most. I didn’t feel this part was as important to have fit the exact shape I drew in my sketches purely because it’s an abstraction of my own face and as long as it “looks” like a face, it serves its purpose. Plus, they were fun to make!
Once the last of the layers were applied, I began attaching the wire face. As the paper holding it in place dried, I also started drilling a hole for one of my eyes. In my tests with the other paper mache masks and on account of the fact that I would be performing a little demonstration with my partner, I needed to see. The hole is small enough to fit just where my eye is but nobody can actually see through it! The mask was pretty much finalized at this point and it just needed to dry before I could put the strings on that would allow it to securely stick to my face.
With the strings attached to the sides, I tried it on for the first time. It fit my face very well, the wire face was secured as were the adhered patches of texture, and I could see right out of the hole. I was very happy with the results. I’ll talk a bit more about what I wasn’t happy with in the reflection but for the most part, I was very pleased!
Final Production
