Life is learning is part of a series
called 'Masks with personality'. Masks are worn to transform a person in to
another character or spirit, hiding the person behind the mask. This series
aims to reverse this process and explore the personality of the mask itself.
Rather than a mask transforming someone into someone or something else, I am
transforming the mask into someone else.
Life is learning has been
through such a transformation. Made using a Bundu mask from Sierra Leone, which
is a symbol of the Bundu society (women's secret society), where girls enter to
learn about becoming a woman, this piece tries to emphasise the positive
aspects of this society: learning how to become a woman. By completely stripping back and re-defining the mask
features, making legs and covering her with a head of hair made from painted
porcelain figurines, her vibrant, colourful character has been exposed. By painting this mask with a high gloss black paint and copper-leaf gilded
lipstick, the viewer has the impression the whole piece is made from porcelain,
emphasising the stunning beauty and grace of this mask's underlying character. Each of the porcelain figurines have been carefully painted with
patterns, colours and words that represent the lessons of life for girls
transitioning to women. Words like confidence, strength, speak-out and love adorn the figurines and aim to show the power offered to young women
in this new world.
