VENETIAN MYSTERY
digital illustration
The annual Carnevale of Venice revolves around mystery - it transformed from being a celebration of victory of Venice Republic against the Patriarch of Aquileia, to a way to save the prestigious image of Venice by allowing license and pleasure: these masks allowed Venetians to indulge and be protected from present and future consequences. Traditionally celebrated from December 26 to Shrove Tuesday, it's the Italian's Mardi Gras, but without any real reason besides being allowed to be completely anonymous behind a mask and layers of embroidery, feathers and adornment. That is the mystery: nobody really knows why the Carnival of Venice is still celebrated today, and despite having a fabulous exterior, who hides behind the mask.
(originally for Wacom's Beyond Imagination contest)
