Swarthmore College Intercultural Center
500 College Avenue
Swarthmore, PA 19081
USA (610) 328-7353
SPRING 2018
VISIBILITY MAGAZINE
ISSUE 03
Masks
“We wear the mask that grins and lies,” begins the poem by Paul
Lawrence Dunbar, referring to the burden of putting on a happy face
to mask the suffering of black folks. We often talk about hiding behind
masks for safety or to “pass” in mainstream identity, or we talk about
unmasking deceivers. However, I wanted to examine what masks
can reveal about the person underneath and how they can make our
histories more visible. A mask might represent a person’s profession or
declare readiness for war. A mask might represent a character onstage
or transformation into an animal totem. I chose a range of masks from
around the world, both ancient and contemporary, that tell stories
about the history of a people. I hope they inspire you to be vigilant of
what’s below the surface of things and to proudly wear the legacy of
your own ancestors in whatever ways feel authentic to you.
Top to bottom, left to right: sleep mask, Mardi Gras (New Orleans),
scuba mask, surgical mask, Tami Island tago dance mask (Huon Gulf,
Papua New Guinea), Hopi kachina mask (Arizona), Yup’ik (Alaska),
vejigante (Puerto Rico), Noh theater mask (Japan), Baule (Côte d’Ivoire),
Kwakwaka’wakw tsonoqua mask (British Colombia), Guy Fawkes mask,
knight’s helmet (Britain, late 13th century), Huichol (Mexico), Topeng
dance mask (Indonesia), Nuu-Chah-Nulth (Vancouver), gay pride
costume mask, Sepik (Papua New Guinea), Hemba (The Democratic
Republic of the Congo), Toltec (Mexico)
Yona Yurwit is a mixed media artist in Philly. She uses her work to
explore systems, patterns, and connections, both between people
and between people and the rest of creation. Her hope is to inspire
curiosity and wonder at the delicate bonds between us all