Tovara’anga is the translation of “mask” into Guarani language*.
Following research on identity, borders and crossings portrayed through human figures, I present a series of sculptures (hand-painted female busts) where ornate masks hide identities, while at the same time not clearly evoking an ethereal, profane meaning or any other definition of a practical nature.
Dozens of meanings can be attributed to the word mask, both in the Western and Eastern world. Many meanings are sometimes confused with the function attributed to it. In Latin, the mask was called persona, meaning “sounds through”. Sharing a psychic identity with the character existing in myth and in the symbolic, the man appropriates the masks. Modern man, in turn, maintains this symbolic relationship with the mask. Even if he does not use it as in the past, it remains in the unconscious and demarcates the human presence in the world (Jung, 1964). In Brazil, among indigenous groups, masks are used by priest-healers who evoke the universe of spirits, dancing to the rhythm of drums and songs in accordance with the sacred ritual.
In this series, masks block the view – of both the observer and the observed – hiding origins, identities, beliefs. Where the representation of oneself is linked to that of the other, like a mirror in which one seeks one's own image.
*Guarani or Guaraniñe'ẽ, is a language originally indigenous to southern South America and belongs to the Tupi-Guarani family of Tupi languages.
Medium: Acrylic, Resin and Plastic
Size: 32 W x 41 H x 18 D cm
2023
TOVARA'ANGA #1
TOVARA'ANGA #2
TOVARA'ANGA #3
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