Ishita enters with the mask in her hand and faces on her dress
“We all wear masks, and the time comes when we cannot remove them without removing some of our own skin.”
― André Berthiaume
She entered with a mask in her hand , large spectacles in her eyes and faces printed on her dress. Which one was her ? Which one was the true self ?
This was a part of the Fine Art photography workshop conducted by artist Agnimirh Basu . An unconventional workshop where the entire show is your canvas as you look through the viewfinder. It depends on what you want to capture and how you would want to see them . All the pictures are perhaps in true sense what the photographer wanted to see when the performers were in action .
Ishita came on stage with a mask in her hand and different faces on her body . Like we have different faces as a son , as a father, as a supporter of a political ideology, as a devotee of a religion and many more. She also had a mask in her hand . A white mask which covers all . She shows the mask to all , sees through it , halts , ponders for a while and then wears it just like in real life we think twice before wearing a mask just to be a better son , a better devotee , a better employee but a momentary lapse overrides the dilemma . We get into the habit of wearing the mask and soon the mask becomes a part of our own skin.
When your mask looks back at you
The dilemma of wearing the mask or not
when you look at the world through the mask
The clear differentiating line between self , alter ego and masks starts getting blurred when Ishita’s alter ego also showed up on stage in the form of AD Prasenjit Das . He helps Ishita to hold on to her mask , look through it and remove it also. Alter ego is normally considered as opposite of the normal self and harmless. Famous fictional example will be Clarke Kent being the alter ego of Superman. It was a rare moment when the alter ego , mask and the own self co existed knowing each other’s presence and looked at us through the window of dilemma.
That moment when the mask is opened
The tussle between self and alter ego
When the mask takes over the self and alter ego
When you remove your mask halfway through
The alter ego takes over
Ishita is a not a professional model. A graduate in English literature, she has worked as a copy writer and now studies Integrated marketing communications . She is a performance artist and a dancer . She draws her inspiration from life itself as she sees it and her favourite models are Ajun Rampal , Milind Soman, Marlon Teixeira , Andre ziehe among the males and Indrani Dasgupta, Naomi Campbell , Sarah Jane Dias and Lisa Hayden among the women . A budding entrepreneur who aspires to have a 360 degree communication agency of her own , Ishita loves to read books and sit idle .
When was the last time you had put on a mask professionally or personally ?
You may also want to read –
Fine Art Photography I . Drishti the butterfly transforms into a firefly
Fine Art Photography II. Momii – Silent , surreal and sensuous
Pikturenama is a blog about our travel and food escapades along with stories to share through photography. 
