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Changing face: masks from the British Museum
Changing face: masks from the British Museum
People wear masks for amusement, deception or
protection. Usually the masks transform the wearer by giving them a
new appearance. But their deeper significance has always varied
greatly between different cultures and
periods.
Changing
Face explores some of these differences.
It includes masks worn by the living and by the dead, masks that
were used for entertainment and others that had a role in ritual.
There is a mask that gave animal-like qualities to human beings and
one which gave human qualities to
vegetables.
Masks also
illustrate the many ways in which the human face has been
represented - the generic or specific, abstract or realistic, the
idealized and the absurd. Changing
Face therefore raises questions about how
people portray themselves and how they choose to reveal or conceal
their identities.
The
exhibition Changing Face: Masks from the
British Museum is currently touring to
venues throughout the United Kingdom as part of the British
Museum's national touring programme. The project was a
collaboration with the Henry Moore Institute, a part of The Henry
Moore Foundation.