Behind the mask
Themes
Community and heritage
Medium
Photography
Location
East Midlands, UK
Year
2023
Commissioner
Self-Initiated
Funder
Self-funded
project overview
Who can you become when you put on a mask? Disguising our true identity was a necessity for the first morris dancers, but the transformational power of disguise continues to be a motivating factor for this group of dancers, the Bourne Borderers (of whom I am one). Grab some sticks, apply makeup, put on rags, bells and a hat: this way lies personal liberation…
Story & Approach
The project combines photographs of the group in performance with quieter portraits made away from the movement and energy of the dance.
Costume and disguise create a shared visual identity, but each participant brings a different history, personality and motivation to the tradition. The photographs move between these two states: the individual and the performer, the private person and the member of the collective.
Rather than attempting to provide a definitive explanation of the custom, the work pays attention to the people who practise it and to the friendships, commitment and sense of belonging through which a tradition remains alive.
