Faces without faces

Photographs by Emese Judit Kovácsik and Martin Glavánovits

Abstract

The mask is a topic that our students often choose as subject for their creative practices, even if the calling subject is different in their creative classes. The two student-works presented here were produced this year independently of the thematical issue of the journal Artcadia and independently of each other, but both, by coincidence, aim to explore this ambiguous concept currently. Emese Kovácsik, a graduate student of photography BA studies, chose it as the subject of her thesis and her final project (excerpts of which are published here) and she interprets the intentionally or unintentionally absent gaze on the face as a death mask. Martin Glavánovits, a second-year photography student, is hiding himself and the members of his family behind different masks as a response to the digital age’s demand for constant visibility and accessibility. Other student-works from earlier years could also be included here but we chose to show those produced currently. But the mask, this object dating back to ancient times and synonymous with the notion of hiding and revealing, is undoubtably still relevant today, and new layers of meaning are being added to it over time.