“Unmasking“ delves into the enigmatic nature of the self, seeking to dive beneath the veneer of societal expectations, and judgments, including my own. It’s about matters of the heart, about alienation, a lover’s discourse, and the neverending longing for wholeness. Oscillating between moments of self-revelation and self-concealment.

There is beauty in entering the void, too. 

Diving into, dissolving in nothingness and withdrawal. 

But what happens if we reveal ourselves? 

Social masking is defined as the process in which a person hides parts of themself in plain sight. Often adopted subconsciously, it aims to present a version of oneself that fits in while suppressing what is perceived as socially or culturally inappropriate, against the norm, or “wrong”. 

The authentic self, one's wishes and needs, thoughts, or emotions are disguised - often in an attempt to feel loved and accepted.

A danse macabre of secrets in step. 

A whirling and spinning of concealed selves with carefully constructed stories. 

There are things we don’t want others to see.

“Pull yourself together,” you’d tell yourself… “Shapeshift!”

A self portrait, 

a body, an object,

Another person’s story.

What happens if we reveal ourselves?

I am not merely a passive observer. 

You can see me, captured within the “Augenblick“, a momentary glimpse in which the observer becomes the observed. The camera is not innocent, nor am I.

My self is the eye, perpetually seeking to decipher what doesn’t want to be understood, what is hiding in the shadows, too timid to walk onto the stage.

A visceral dialogue.

Images, here to whisper, or shout, but would never dare to tell you what to think.

Between the impulse to reveal and the desire to withhold,

Ambiguity is what’s most familiar.

Unrest,

a state of rebellion, 

untidiness, mess, confusion, chaos, 

violence, riot, turmoil,

A condition.

What are we in the eyes of the other?

Your gaze

inviting, loving, 

alluring, provoking, confronting, 

penetrating.

(You know me and you don’t!) 

What do you see?

Vulnerability, 

I embrace in others.

What’s known doesn’t disappoint.

What happens if we reveal ourselves?

And dive into a realm 

far underneath the flesh

To open doors and create spaces where perception is malleable and boundaries dissolve, 

where new connections are free to emerge. 

To rupture

Self between fragments. 

And Images, while meaningless in isolation, 

May be a constellation of hinges.

An inner landscape,

That if surrendered, a pathway to proximity.

“Unmasking“ aims to go beyond mere observation, 

astray from capturing what meets the eye. 

Transcending the constraints of rational thought.

Instead stumbling into a deeper, more primal understanding of the world, 

or each other.