Ritual Masks by Gretchen Treuting

From Stone Age disguises used in hunting rituals to the nearly ceremonial application of makeup in an Instagram “Influencer” video, human beings have hidden their faces to often reveal something more universal. Masks play a key role in rituals: religious, spiritual and earthly. In war and the declaration of peace. Marking the creation of life, its milestones, and its ending. Masks imbue power, provide protection, invoke ancestors, enhance celebration, highlight rites of passage, enable connection to the animal and spirit worlds. They have even played an unfortunate role in recent political discord. There is a reason that a 9,000 year old mask seen in a museum resonates as strongly as a current satirical Halloween mask. Choosing source material to create these illustrations was almost random, but looking at the vast mask images online gave me surprising insights. This book, designed to combine masks, lets one play with intersections of personal identity and communal human experience.