Janina Anderson is the artist who created these wonderful masks. They are more like sculpture, rather than something meant to be worn for ceremony or protection. Here is what she says about her masks.
I wanted to make the work as personal and relatable as possible for viewers. There is something about fiber art that is just so great about making those connections with an audience. I think that because of our daily experience with cloth and its connection to the body, we have a really intimate knowledge of textiles. This is a huge tool for me, and I believe it makes my ideas a lot more accessible so that the audience can put themselves in the work and have an intimate experience with the pieces.
I used a frame loom to create the masks. Unlike the experience of working on a floor loom, I was able to make a lot of quick observations, integrating different materials and creating lots of interesting irregularities and textures within the patterns. Additionally, because I was trying to talk about indecision, and anxiety in these pieces, the obsessive labor of weaving gives the masks an energy they otherwise couldn’t have had.
