Unmasking

(What happens if we reveal ourselves?) 

I haven’t slept much these last few days. My head is buzzing — heavy from exhaustion. 
„What do you want to express? What’s the message you want to convey?”
I don’t know what to say.
And smile it off.

Social masking is defined as the process in which a person hides parts of themself in plain sight. Often adopted subconsciously, it aims to present a version of oneself that fits in while suppressing what is perceived as socially or culturally inappropriate, against the norm, or “wrong”. The authentic self, one's wishes and needs, thoughts, or emotions are disguised - often in an attempt to feel loved and accepted. 

A danse macabre of secrets in step. A whirling and spinning of concealed selves with carefully constructed stories. There are things we don’t want others to see.

“Pull yourself together,” you’d tell yourself… “Shapeshift!”

I am not merely a passive observer. You can see me, captured within the “Augenblick“, a momentary glimpse in which the observer becomes the observed. The camera is not innocent, nor am I.

My self is the eye, perpetually seeking to decipher what doesn’t want to be understood, what is hiding in the shadows, too timid to walk onto the stage.

Unrest,
a state of rebellion,
A condition.
Maybe I am that burning house.

What happens if we reveal ourselves?

And dive into a realm, far underneath the flesh. To open doors and create spaces where perception is malleable and boundaries dissolve, where new connections are free to emerge. 

To rupture, Self between fragments. And images, while meaningless in isolation, may be a constellation of hinges. An inner landscape, that if surrendered, a pathway to proximity.

Oscillating between moments of self-revelation and self-concealment, “Unmasking“ delves into the enigmatic nature of the self, seeking to dive beneath the veneer of societal expectations, and judgments, including my own.

There is beauty in entering the void, too.
Diving into, dissolving in nothingness and withdrawal. 

But what happens if we reveal ourselves? 

“Unmasking“ aims to go beyond mere observation, astray from capturing what meets the eye. Transcending the constraints of rational thought. Instead, stumbling into a deeper, more primal understanding of the world, … and each other.