Opens July 11, 7pm, at The Reach Gallery Museum Abbotsford.
From Elsiewhere, In Abbotsford. I have stood in the presence of this mask and others made by the women of The Warm Zone, a drop-in place for street-engaged women. Masks that will be on exhibit, without text or explanation. It’s a stunning, interactive, collection that invites viewers to look into and beyond the folds, faux hair, eyes, mouth and nose of each one.
The eyes in this photographed mask are wearing contacts. One mask has a pierced eye. Another has a mismatched set of eyes — one’s black and the other blue. All the masks have discernable eyes, but the mouths of some are covered, as if clad in a burkah. Some masks are sequined, others wear glitter, pearls, feathers and beads. Crosses, and silver-link chains.
Many are black; one’s purple, and a gold one brings to mind an Egyptian princess. One mask is sunken, appears shrivelled like last year’s apple, or a face distorted by pain. Each mask is a story languaged with metaphor. Like poems. They’re plain; they’re fancy; they’re mysterious and profane; and, altogether, they’re holy in the way that beauty, at first glance, can seem ugly…that is, until what’s Hidden is Revealed.
The Reach, at 7 pm, July 11. Please come. Give yourself the opportunity to be astonished. “For the story of any one of us is, in some measure, the story of us all.” (F Buechner)
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Elsiewhere, In Abbotsford can be found everyday on her on Facebook page.