*Ansiktet är själens form. Det är på denna plats, på denna scen, som livet lättast bjuder upp och kanaliserar sin kraft. Man skulle även kunna säga: ansiktet är livets mask. Märk väl att detta inte utesluter att somliga förvandlar hela sina kroppar till ansikten.
*Michael Azar, Ögon/blickar, citat ur boken Bilder av en far (see: www.nilsramhoj.se)


We are very sensitive to other peoples faces and good at reading their expressions. If someone is trying to keep a straight face to cover up what´s really going on inside, we notice. No wonder that it can be a relief to put on a mask to hide behind now and again.

To put on a real mask, like the kind Torbjörn is making, over your own face is scary. It can be a very uncomfortable experience. It can make you wonder who you really are, when you no longer see your well-known face in the mirror. The same kind of question comes up when someone you know very well takes on a mask. Can she or he longer be trusted? Also meeting someone to you totally unknown wearing a mask can make you jump. Is it a enemy or a friend?

I have sometimes seen it as my task to uncover, to see through, expose what´s behind the surface of a façade. To find the true face behind a mask. Not to put on a mask, but to be true and honest. To take it off. Well, that gives me plenty to do as we most of the time are protecting ourself by wearing our mask of flesh and blood.

I do portraits quite often. Maybe I make only one picture of a person and that only image has to look like and reflect that specific personality. Of course, it is insane to think that one single expression can reflect the whole diversity of a person. Impossible! Represent maybe, but not reflect the complexity of someone.
And even worse; while trying to get under the skin, to unmask that person, I realize what I´m really doing is to superimpose my own ”face” over the others. This is happening while thinking I was uncovering the true face of that person! And which is the true face of someone? We have so many.

So, as I have always worked with the human face and its expressions in my art, it was great that Torbjörn asked me to take care of his two masks. Directly after his question that night at Röda Sten and the first feeling of pressure of being asked to produce had faded, the ideas started spinning in my head. But first, after seeing the sceptical expression of my face, Torbjörn felt he had to calm me by saying:
- Nils, it´s OK if nothing happens, maybe the masks won´t evoke anything in you. And that´s just fine, you don´t have to do anything … just let them stay with you for a month.
Yes, Torbjörn is a smart guy! I even let him get away with:
- All you have to do, is to document what the masks do or don´t do to you …
And here I sit with the masks … I´m both a bit angry at Torbjörn because he make me have to work … and have to challenge myself, but also happy and thankful because he gave me a reason to do so. Time is short, and as I have a lot of GRAND plans, I´ll probably fail … but and yes, Torbjörn also include failure in the project. So how could I fail? And indeed, just the ideas in themselves that was coming up from knowing that I would have to confront the masks, have made the job already .!?
So, time to document ;-)!

Nils Ramhøj