Texts by Eduardo López Moreno®
It is modesty, the search of identity or a way to customize a fundamental cultural and religious principle? The Swahili Island of Lamu in Kenya. A young girl walks home with her face concealed carrying her shoes and umbrella.
A Group of neighbors who are worshipers of a Saint who was not really a Saint, and in fact he did not exist walk in a procession in Luanda, Angola, with their faces covered by sort of masks. This Saint was created by a TV series from Brazil.
A loader of abandoned objects walks by a slum in Nairobi, Kenya, covering his face with his fleshy hands.
Introversion, reserve, shame or pride. Images of an inner world or a reflection of a wider cultural landscape? Visual symbols of a cryptic society. Initiation processes? Many reasons to conceal the face, many forms to present a portrait. Some suppress their personality for secrecy or avoidance, others to change our perception about them, others to seduce us. Yet, these unusual portraits convey another form of self-expression.
Face concealment represents a different meaning and a way of being. It invites us to revise existing canons and conventions and rethink the forms of aesthetics. A self-inflicted isolation creates a high degree of social distance, building a boundary of privacy. It occludes thoughts, feelings and actions. The deliberated attempt for not being there, or being differently, is a rupture of reciprocity that causes some distress and changes our societal relations.
