Competition works
  >  Artists  >  Artists Profile  >  Artwork

Suicide mask

2019 Competition entry

Neo Theku

Details:
Not Signed
Photography
60 x 50 cm
R5 000

Description:
The suicide mask is influenced by the lives of the late teenage and early adult age.  Peer pressure becomes stronger at that age, when the youth are leaving high school for college and university.  The mask represents the identity of all teenagers who are lost in fantasy and peer pressure, with an unidentified face under the mask being all about hidden emotions and presenting a fake self to the world.

The work shows the suicide thoughts of a person at an adolescent stage, fearing to miss out on fun.  The suicide rope is around the neck but not hung up, to show that there is still hope that these suicidal thoughts can still be escaped, although the body language seems to speak of having given up.  The dark background depicts loneliness that cannot be escaped easily.

The mask covers the entire head, with two holes cut out on the eyes only.  One is clear and the other has faded into the mask, this idea tells us that people see everything that is happening to them and to others, but do not see the danger of it.  The mouth is covered because depression is getting heavier and people do not talk about it, the nose as well is covered as these people suffocate from mixed emotions and they cannot accept the reality of this world and its responsibilities.

The body seeming to fade into the background bring to mind the isolation that introverts prefer.  No clothes and the use of skin it bring out the relative pain that everybody has been through when they are lonely, heart-broken or betrayed.  The use of skin and the dark background talk loudly about the privacy and opportunity that people get to redefine themselves, although that can be depressing. People visit their true beings in thoughts and begin to punish themselves for bad things that they have been through.