There is something about a mask that captures the imagination. Hiding our true selves behind a shield often allows us to act in ways that are often in direct opposition to who we really are or to, at least for a short time, take on a persona we would never dare exhibit as our own. I think we all often wear masks of a sort in our dealings with people, showing only the face we choose to show at any given moment. We seldom fully take off our masks and show our full and true self. I think that is a reason I often feature masks in the artifacts of my Archaeology series.
So when I came across this photo it immediately caught my attention. It is a wonderful abstraction of latex masks hanging from lines as they dry. I can find no story behind this 1950 photo or even much about the photographer, Carol Eyerman , who died in 1996 at the age of 85 and was a Life and Sunset magazine photographer best known for landscape photos. To me, it is either a shop that makes masks for Halloween or theatrical or movie productions. I’m thinking Halloween just by the sheer number.
But beyond the facts behind the photo, it’s a terrific image with the looping lines that hold the gruesome faces and bloodied hands rising up and away. Like a factory of pain and torture, an image torn from a nightmare. Just a great shot.
As an aside, while I was jumping around online trying to find more about Carol Eyerman, I came across this photo of a man standing on another man’s shoulders while taking a photo on a camera atop an extraordinarily tall tripod. It was such a neat image that I had to stop to discover that the two men were Cherry and Richard Kearton who were brothers and pioneers in wildlife photography. This photo was taken in 1900. I always seem to find the most interesting things while searching for other things, as thought the initial search is actually only a starting point. In this case, it may not be as interesting as the masks but it’s a great image in itself.
Redtree Times 