Different types of masks

A mask is an object typically worn on the face for protection, fashion, disguise, performance or entertainment. masks have been used since ancient times for both ceremonial and practical purposes.

They are used more often than not in traditional places in tribes in continents such as Africa and Asia, compared to others they are more commonly used there as a sign of protection or power, so there is a hierarchy the better the mask the more powerful you were in countries such as Africa, but in Asia, it is worn for a more traditional purpose and it is more of a culture based thing compared to anything else.

Masks are also commonly used in performance art and especially in theaters because of how expressive they can be and how much they can change the way you see a certain character, take superheroes for example as soon as they put a mask or the suit on they change as a person and that is what masks do.

But currently at the moment masks are being used more as a safety aspect compared to an expressive aspect because there is a pandemic going on all over the world so people are mostly covering there faces in protective masks rather than for a traditional or fashionable since they are used for protection.

This is an example of the masks that a lot of the population of the world are wearing at the moment for protection and safety measures because they don’t want to catch the virus.

But the masks I have used in my photos are a lot different as they are sort of used as a performance or an expression instead of being used as protection and they could also be classed as a disguise so you don’t know that it is me behind the mask which is what I wanted to come from doing the shoots I have done recently.

 

 

 

Banksy – An appreciation post

Banksy’s work has forever been in the art foreground ever since he was first discovered because of how meaningful and political his work can be and how it impacts the viewers of his work, his work was never really appreciated when he first started because as everyone knows graffiti or otherwise known as street art is illegal, but now his work is worshipped as soon as someone realises it’s his work.

But Banksy’s pieces are going for millions and are also being preserved before people can vandalise over the top of them as they are considered genuine art pieces, which is why he has become one of the most spoken about street artists there is, and his work is also very controversial as there was a recent piece that went to auction, the girl with the red balloon that he then shredded as soon as the hammer went down for it to be sold.

This is the piece that was shredded but by doing that I believe that it actually increased the value of the piece by quite a hefty margin, because the piece made that much of a statement it was also unique so it became a huge talking piece in the news.

There is a small theory that Banksy is a company compared to just being one person, but after looking through sources, I believe that it is just one person, yes he has a cult following, but he has his own style and it is completely unique, as soon as you start incorporating more people into that the whole style would change. So, in my opinion, Banksy is his own man and does this all by himself, as the work that he is producing isn’t week in week out, it is really spread out time-wise, but other people may think that it is a company but in my opinion, he is just one man.

This is his most recent piece as a homage to the hard-working doctors and nurses who are working for our national health service and doing the country proud, so the image above portrays a little boy playing with a nurse doll after chucking his superhero toys away in the basket, as a showing of love for what the nurses and doctors are doing to keep the country safe.

How masks and Smoke conceal things

With the masks and the smoke, they conceal a lot, that is why they are used during riots as the rioters don’t want the police or whoever they are protesting against knowing who they are or what they look like and they use the smoke bombs as a distraction to get closer to the police or to push the police further away so they can cause more havoc.

But masks are also used for a lot of other things especially at the moment there is a global pandemic going on called COVID-19 so masks are commonly being worn by key workers to protect themselves from the virus and to protect others as the virus spreads quickly.

But the masks are sometimes used by artists to conceal their identity but that is a whole different meaning to wearing a mask so people never know who they are and that is all a part of the act, there is also music artists who do the same thing, one of the main examples is Daft Punk they have always worn masks ever since they became popular, yes people know who they are and they also don’t speak when they have the masks on.

The difference with the smoke being is that you can be really expressive when it comes to smoke especially within photography, I’ve found the smoke to be a really fun thing to use because of how expressive and creative you can get with it, because of the number of colours there is it changes everything.

Photoshop Smoke Shots

I decided that I wanted to experiment with photoshop again as I hadn’t really used it in a while and I also wanted to carry on with the smoke and mask shots so with photoshop I decided to combine the two and see how it would turn out, so I had an experiment as I found a few brush downloads that add a smoke effect.

The amount of different things you can do with photoshop is insane but I am still slowly teaching myself the platform as I haven’t really used it that often, but I am happy with the improvement of my skill on the platform when comparing old to new shots and edits.

These two images are the originals of what the edits looked before I added filters and effects to them both so you see the difference in how they turned out.

This is the first edit I did with the smoke effect but I then decided to have a mess with it in Lightroom and add more sharpness and make the mask whiter and more in the shot rather than having it hiding in the smoke.

So this is the re-edit I did to add more depth and sharpness to the image and I’m really happy with the way the shot turned out compared to the idea I had in my head.

Then having a last attempt at it with me facing a different angle, it turned out really well and this is my favourite shot of the whole lot because it looks like I am fading out of the image which is what I wanted. But, I think the smoke adds a whole different effect to the image and makes it really different and powerful.

Exhibition Layout

I have designed how I would either want a virtual or physical copy of what I want the gallery to look like on InDesign because of the current situation we don’t really have the option of doing it any other way unless we are out of lockdown in enough time.

Wall 1 exhibition

Wall 2 exhibition

Wall 3 exhibition

Wall 4 Exhibition

Wall 5 Exhibition

The above documents are all PDFs of my exhibition idea on how I want to set them up and also have a brief idea if we were to have a physical exhibition and then I would just have to get prints of the certain ones that I want to show.

 

Reasons behind the mask

 

There is always a reason behind why some graffiti and street artists hide their identity, it is mainly because of the whole secrecy behind it and how it is a different identity especially when they are doing their work because as soon as the mask comes off they can live a normal life again.

Such as artists like Banksy, he hides his identity very well and no one knows who he is. Every time he now does a piece it is covered in perspex and preserved so no-one can spray over it and deface it.

But with artists like Banksy, his work will forever be worshipped in the street art and graffiti universe because of how technical his work is and how meaningful his work can be and he always has a reason for doing his work, such as recently he has done a piece of a little boy swapping his superhero toys for a nurse toy as a homage to the NHS.

 Banksy’s homage to the NHS.

There are also artists like JR who are very political when it comes to their work as he does huge pieces of politicians and powerful people to make a statement with his work because of what he wants to get out of it.

Smoke Bomb Photography

I decided to keep on with the identity idea, where I get a person to wear a mask and then I used smoke bombs as a sort of connection to riot photography, so what I used was a half-face mask with a bottom jaw of a skull printed on it and also a plain white mask-like the dance group the Jabbawockeez us.

As I thought these masks would work very well and they can be effective because of how simple they look but working with colour they work very well so with smoke bombs that are all colour based they work extraordinary well against the colour compared to the plain white mask.

So the images above I decided to use the plain white masks to see how effective they would be and I think they worked very well, especially because you can still see the mask behind all the colour and because of how effective they look.

I started with the skull mask because I think it connects more to riot photography and riots in general as most of the time, rioters do wear masks to hide their identity, but I also wanted me to look mean and make it have a look where I am attacking someone else, or about to throw the smoke bombs towards someone.

The image on the left with the skull mask on is my favourite out of the whole set and I also really like the monochrome one with a slight bit of colour whilst using a white smoke bomb as I thought it would look really edgy and cool and I’m really happy on how the outcome actually turned out.

Little world

I have taken some photos of urban landscapes covered in graffiti and I am thinking of combining them and making them my own little world to make it like a virtual sort of space but not combining them just by looking at the photos you then see and make your imagination blossom and create it how you would in your own head.

So by just looking at these photos you then create your own little world in your head to see what it would look like and how it would change your opinion on what graffiti is and then make your mind create inside what could be a small little world where people live.

The amount of colour within the photos makes me imagine all different things when I look at these images I think of all different places and what it could create in all different ways and little pathways etc.

 

Self Assessment form

Just a little bit about me…

Expression within photography has always been one of the main reasons why I got into photography in the first place, because of how much you can express yourself just in one photo. Graffiti has always been the one type of art I’ve looked at because of artists like Banksy and Keith Haring, I fell in love with it from that point and have always had a soft spot for it ever since.

Artist statement:

I first got into photography in High school after my old art teacher told me that I couldn’t draw and told me to pick up a camera and see what I could do, so that’s what I did and that is where I fell in love because of the amount of freedom you can have behind the camera and that is what I realised.

My photography skills have definitely improved since coming to university, and I feel I have been able to have the freedom in the last couple of years of university so it has made me find my love for photography again because I am just working towards guidelines so I get to choose what I want to do and take photos of.

So what I thought going into university was that my main intention wasn’t to take photos of graffiti but I think I’ve found the aspect of photography that I love taking photos of, it’s what I really enjoy because of how expressive it can be and how much it can mean to one person compared to another, a lot of people see it very differently to others especially the older generation.

But the number of things you can do with just one photo of graffiti, by making the colours brighter or mirroring the image for effect or even making it black and white because sometimes the pieces don’t need colour to have any meaning or even to make someone think what it looks like with colour.

I also like how expressive every piece of graffiti can be that is one of the main reasons I fell in love with it especially after seeing Banksy’s and Keith Haring’s work because of how much meaning there is behind every piece of Banksy’s work and how colourful and eye-catching Keith Haring’s work is.

Also within photoshop, you can make things such as virtual graffiti and then edit the shades and colours to make them pop in lightroom and change even how the original piece looks to make it your own and my skills have improved overtime by using photoshop and lightroom and I can see how much I have improved over the last couple of years especially with my editing skills.

Banksy tribute piece

I decided to make a tribute piece to one of Banksy’s most famous pieces of the rioter throwing flowers, where I decided to stand in the same position but to make it in my own way I used a smoke bomb and made it look like a drawing with a plain grey background and just had the smoke in colour.

This image above is the original image before I edited it so I attempted to get it in frame with my legs and my arms so you could get the whole image in the end result image I had to cut my lengthened arm out so I could get the smoke in the frame as well.

These are the other two aspects of the image that I used so it’s not a massively layered image compared to the other stuff that I have done previously, it is a simple but effective image in my opinion because I wanted it to be eye-catching rather than have too much to look at in one image.

I am really happy with the final outcome because it’s simple yet effective, I blurred out the brand on my t-shirt to make it look more like the original and make it more eye-catching so you’re not focussing on just one part of the image compared to looking at the whole image.