With Persona, I continue my exploration of identity and the tensions between the visible and the invisible, between what we show and what we are, which I began with my series Je est un autre (2017).
This new project questions the social mask, its density and its fragility. The social mask, that veil between the self and the world, is both protection and constraint. It shapes us as much as it confines us, allowing us to navigate society while concealing our flaws and inner truths.
Here, the mask does not only reveal an absence, it also exposes the breach through which authenticity emerges. It is no longer just a shell, but a territory where artifice and truth are constantly negotiated. The white plaster masks, delicate and fragile, which I crafted myself, play a central role in this series. They embody this interface between self and others, between the intimate self and the social self. At times worn, at times removed, at times floating in space, they reveal as much as they conceal, offering a subtle play on the construction and deconstruction of identity. Beyond the fixed mask, the hands speak. They tell who we are in another language. I seek to capture that suspended moment when artifice falters, when the mask becomes almost porous, allowing a glimpse of truth. It is an invitation to unveiling, not to display, but to better understand what we keep silent.
The aesthetic of the photographs holds an essential place in this work. At times, vivid colors contrast with the whiteness of the masks, heightening the dramatic intensity of the images. The importance of staging, the strange play of light and shadow, and the dreamlike atmosphere that emerges place this series in line with surrealism. The influence of Man Ray is perceptible in the use of the mask as an object of distancing and a tool for exploring the unconscious.
This artistic and conceptual research resonates with contemporary questions about identity, self-representation, and social roles. At a time when images of the self are omnipresent and the individual oscillates between performance and the search for truth, Persona offers a reflection on what we choose to reveal and to conceal. This work thus engages in dialogue with current artistic practices that interrogate the construction of identity in the age of the digital and of permanent spectacle. Through this series, I invite the viewer to a disquieting face-to-face encounter with themselves, where the mask becomes both a boundary and a revealer.
About Marie Dew
Marie Dew born in 1977, orange flared trousers (thanks to her parents), Plastic Bertrand, her grandmother, Sophie the Giraffe, blah blah blah… A complicated childhood, “when I grow up, I’ll be a boy,” blah blah blah… Dance, judo, music theory, the Cathar castles, clarinet, the municipal band, and the video club! Enough already! A volcanic teenage crisis (apologies to her parents), rebellion, provocation, passion for words, languages, rock ’n’ roll, collages, and analog photography.
1999: Eccentric mother of a young prodigy (thanks to her son for being her equal). From lousy relationship to lousy relationship (still… thanks and apologies to her exes!), idealist, hypersensitive, blah blah blah… The Manor, shared flats, utopia, concerts, festivals at home, blah blah blah… Literature and English teacher, disability, deafness, photo model, blah blah blah, burnout in 2016, searching for meaning in her life, blah blah blah… Yoga, psychotherapy, creation, shibari… farewell to National Education, it was nice, no hard feelings. Creative effervescence, reinvention of herself, in search of the True: photography, performances, writing, collages, blah blah blah… She tinkers, hacks, exhibits, exposes herself, explodes, blah blah blah… The body, identity, finding one’s place, blah blah blah… experimentation, spontaneity, raw urgency, risk-taking, DIY, art or nonsense, punkish, blah blah blah… This world is not her world, so what? She just invents another one, more beautiful, more organic! [Official Website]
