In terms of reasonableness, this is absolutely one of the craziest things I have ever done, and it took about a year to do: a wood sculpture made from 2″ thick scaffolding planking, 10″ wide, overall size is 5’2″ high and 9′ long. The profile head on the left is rendered from a photo of my head, the hand also – the face on the right is based on a classical form found on masks made by the Iroquois False Face Society, basically the healers. The main features being a broken nose and distorted mouth, intended to repel bad spirits. The actual masks are considered sacred. They are rendered from a tree by the person who has been touched by a dream and makes a commitment. The freshly made mask is made “live” in a ceremony and is considered a representation of the mask maker – it is either destroyed upon death of that individual, buried or held by the related tribe.
