mask
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2018 // Judson University, Prof. Alan Frost
The prompt for this project was simply to create light; however the task of creating light is something that many individuals do daily. Society has always pressured people to light up and present their best self but never has it been more prevalent than in recent social media driven years. Social media normalizes the act of curating ones public image and to make the unconvincing statement “everything’s fine.”
This headdress takes the place of expending the emotional energy to build that facade of happiness. It shines a blinding bright light to distract and cover the wearer beneath, without that wearer needing to expend the energy of hiding their own facial expressions. The form of the headdress takes the idea that individuals are in a constant press conference and twists it by using metaphors of media disconnections to illustrate that the public persona is a disconnection from the reality of the individual. It blends the ideas of the analog static, which can be mesmerizing but signifies a lack of connection, and the pixelation used to censor images, as if the wearer may want to be able to censor themselves. The result is a second skin that hides the wearer, blinds the viewer and disconnects them emotionally. 
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CONSTRUCTION
The headdress is constructed of three pieces of a metal rod frame that has been bent to fit the wearers head. It is not one size fits all. Two kinds of 3D printed clip are hosted on the frame, one that simply connects the rest of the mask to the frame and one that plays the additional role of connecting the three pieces of frame together. Both varieties of clip feature two slots, one horizontal slot near its base for receiving a 12 volt LED strip and a long vertical slot for receiving the back fold of a soji paper screen which has been folded into a tessellation pattern to mimic static or pixelation. The frame also clamps the battery pack for the LEDs on the back of the head. The battery pack itself becomes the main headrest in contact with the wearer and also balances the otherwise front-loaded weight of the entire assembly. |
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