Project Description

The Mask Off collection shows people as they truly are: gods in their own right. It is an affirmation of the power of cultural values and a declaration of the kind of excellence that should be the gold standard everywhere in the world.

In some manner, Mask Off alludes to the cultural appropriation that the African people experienced in the past. Delving deeper however, the purpose of the collection is to show what comes next. It stands as a reminder of the power each person has to create and shape their own history, culture and identity. It represents a choice, a belief that greatness does not lie in the past; it’s in our hands today and in the future.

Mask Off honours the past on a contemporary art landscape, using a technological platform that has been predicted to shape creative power in the future. Each of the twelve art pieces in the Mask Off collection is a vintage gold mask - a resource that signifies age-old wealth and affluence – and each mask represents a key cultural value that’s been handed down from generation to generation: Integrity, Confidence, Love, Fertility, etc. The artworks fuse traditional and digital art media, technology, innovation and storytelling to celebrate history, the present and the future.

At the heart of it, Mask Off is a proclamation of cultural badassery. When all masks are off, who are we?