Masks and Myths
The mask in this body of work investigates various female archetypes – those often not representing the woman’s true nature. It also looks closely at personas and identity – the space between what you are with others and what you are alone. Mythology and iconography is played out in the many ways women have been presented in art, cinema and literature. How do we cope with the expectations of others and still keep our integrity?
Repressed fears and desires are projected onto the female body and thus portrayed with a message that there is only one (or the other) way to be a woman, and one way to fit into archetypes created for us; the paradox of being seen (as a body) and unseen (as a subject). Joan Riviere’s seminal work Womanliness as a Masquerade (1929) argues that the masquerade is the symptom and the cure of women’s anxiety of trespassing the borders between domestic and public spheres, putting emphasis on her social and political experience. This is a balance between disguise and display, where she can reclaim and liberate her body and the privacy that exists in her own reflection. Additionally, the mask, or the persona, for Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, is the face the individual presents to the world—”a kind of mask, designed on the one hand to make a definite impression upon others, and on the other to conceal the true nature of the individual.”
Mainly inspired by surrealists and painters, this body of work consists of self portraiture in disguise, blended with images of women exploring certain personas, identities and archetypes as well as their opposites – the mask of (presumed) female perfection; the bride, the mother, the lover, the saint, the maiden, the damsel in distress – a woman depicted in the navigation through the projected images on her.
Emma Hartvig (1990) is a photographic artist best known for her portraits of women. The work is highly influenced by her desire to understand the parallels between solitude, intimacy and identity – through her use of the cinematic, performative and theatrical. Born and raised in Sweden, Hartvig moved to London where she completed a BA in photography at University of the Arts.
