The Mask

The oldest masks that have been discovered are 9,000 years old, being held by the Musée “Bible et Terre Sainte” (Paris), and the Israel Museum (Jerusalem), but most probably the practice of masking is much older. Masks in various forms – sacred, practical, or playful – have played a crucial historical role in the development of understandings about “what it means to be human”, because they permit the imaginative experience of “what it is like” to be transformed into a different identity (or to affirm an existing social or spiritual identity). This D A I S Y  J A M E S Wallcover: The Mask, captures just how powerful an impression they can make.