I always get attracted by the shape of the F-117 Nighthawk attack aircraft. Besides its beauty, it also famous for its invisibility towards the radar. Speaking of hiding identity, modern artist Nick Cave，inspired me a lot regarding his choice of material for his artwork, as well as the giant spiral facial masks that appear in most of his “Sound Costume.” However, instead of using sound, I would like to use light to reflect my idea.
My intention to create this piece is to show my identity is the result of the reflection of the environment where I have lived. I create a mask to filter our senses because we use face to perceive the world. The reflective material act as a camouflage that can blend my identity together with the background. The aluminum foil inside provides an abundant source of light. It is a light collector and an identity collector. At the same time, the people who observe me will see some changing versions of themselves through the mirror, which is caused by the variation curvature of the mirror and my movements. Which means I could twist other’s identity by my action. That sound like a supernatural ability, but what I always believe is that people are easily influenced, and they are still influencing others.
When I put on the vast mask, the first spontaneous reaction is to touch it, follow by blindly moving around. I instantly realize that there is a boundary which gives me a sense of fear between me and the outside world, so I want to touch it, to feel it. Then, I trying to see the world using my hand-made periscope, but what I find out is, everything is distorted. I would not use a shiny glass mirror just for myself to see, because that would be unfair to the other people.
Everyone wears an invisible mask like this. It keeps our identity invisible and privet. It shows what we want to display. However, we might spend our whole life on trying to finding out what it really is.
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