Masks, and faces within !

I have always wondered about the stories behind the layers of makeup put on by the performance artist I encounter on different Street corners during my travels.

This is a collection of some of the faces which I loved and why I chose to capture them in my lens.

On a sunny afternoon on Las Ramblas, Barcelona, a few years back, I saw this lady dressed as an angel she was still as a statue could be, watching thousands of people walk by. Some stopped to admire how still she stood and dropped a few cents in her collection bowl. I stood mesmerized by the beam of sunlight shining on her as if a true Angel had flown down. How and why did the sun beam choose to shine upon her is still a mystery to me, but the moment still stays fresh in my memory as if it was yesterday.

I don’t have a name for what this dude was dressed like, but I really got a kick looking at him scaring people off with his long monster nails and rubbing them all over unsuspecting tourist trying to catch a quick selfie with the beast. The whole montage was quite interesting and funny, but somehow his eyes didn’t reflect the mischief his character was causing on his audience.

Closer home, I found these two buffoons at one of the theme parks around Delhi and took an instant liking to them. The clown would sneak up to people passing by and imitate their gait, their gestures behind their backs causing people passing by roll in laughter. The monkey would just jump out of nowhere and scare girls around with a screeching noise. A very interesting duo that stopped and made these funny faces for me to click them right in the middle of their acts.

This one always amazes me whenever I see it. Defying the unwritten code of the mimes, both of their eyes reflect their true emotions of concern and worry. No amount of layers of makeup can hide what their eyes truly reflect.

I came across these two kids at some kind of a comicon at a Park. No idea what they were supposed to be, but the bubble-gum colours they were both dressed in, complete with the gory knife and whacky dress made it quite enchanting. The whole ensemble screamed “You can never judge a character by its cover”.

This one followed the same strategy as the dragon like monster above (I even suspect they were the same person), the lengths she had gone through to create her character was quite commendable as you can see in one of the close up shots. However I could see glimpses of sorrow despite of her ensemble. I caught her up day in the middle of her makeup and she was quick to move her face away as soon as she saw the camera. Perhaps, she wanted the world to see her only in the character that she was to become.

This last one is probably the most interesting; I have been seeing him in the same getup over the last 4 years but despite the redundancy of the character, he seems to be one of the most popular artists in the area, reason being- his interactive-ness with the assembled crowd. I once cornered him while he was getting ready for his act and instead of getting offended; he quite enjoyed me clicking him throughout. On a recent visit when I was in Barcelona with my family, he seemed to have recognized me and went through an elaborate routine of searching for lands and discovering a new one (the Columbus story), along with my kids. They really had a great time interacting with him.

This is my ode to all these artists who have taken up these characters to entertain us and at the same time make us reflect upon the masks we all wear throughout our lives in front of strangers and family alike.  After all we all are nothing but puppets in the theatre of life whose string is tied in the fingers of God.