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The Hidden Mask

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The Hidden Mask was created in Lubumbashi (DR Congo) in the period 1999 – 2000, based on the vast collection of masks “hidden” in the stores of the ethnographic museum there. What you see here is a photographic interpretation and not a representation of a cultural treasure. The photographer worked in a very intuitive way, starting from the mask itself, ignoring it’s exact meaning.

“when I saw for the first time these masks in the museum of Lubumbashi I knew immediately that sooner or later I would do something with them.  When I started working there I didn’t know much about the precise meaning of the masks. The conservator told me their origin (Kasaï, Tshokwe,…), but that was about it.  I didn’t ask much also because I wanted my intuition to do the work. 

On the third floor of the dusty store of the museum we choose rather rapidly a mask for the model that showed up that day!  So I started a long journey – for more than a year – into this world of magic and mystery inherent to the African psychology.  I came to the conclusion that these masks function like mirrors of the human soul and consciousness.

In every session I tried to feel the expression or vibe of each mask and I invited also the model to forget about himself and try to feel the spirit of the mask we were working with."

"So I didn’t actually picture them as ethnologic objects, but as  ‘intermediates’ to a world which goes beyond our western analytic approach.. And I was indeed sometimes surprised myself about that creature that suddenly appeared in front of my camera, something between human and animal, something ghostly, witchy or coming from outer space!  By using the language of contemporary photography I had the privilege to unveil this hidden treasure of a forgotten museum in the deep south of Congo…"

"The final exhibition took place in the completely repainted crescent hall  with mezzanine of the Belgian architect Ströbel. The space looks definitely like a Le Corbusier building!  On one side I hung my pictures (rather small format sepia tainted photos, printed on a fine grained matt paper of AGFA and in frames of 40 by 50 cm) and on the other side and in the middle were exposed ”the hidden masks” of the collection of the museum.  Every mask had its white column and halogen spot or a roughly painted back ground for the wall.  It was highly unusual to see an exhibition like that in Congo, so the public was very excited and kept on coming back to discover more details.  On the opening night I played music of Jan Garbareks  ‘Rites’ and Nils Petter Molvaers ‘Khmer (ECM records) and this added also to the ambiance of the exhibition.  Later on the conservator told me that he was so amazed I had been able to capture the essence of each mask in my photographic interpretation… We did a round up together and indeed, it was surprising how his ethnological comment on the mask which he had put down in a text for the catalogue, without having seen my pictures was widely corresponding with the photos that I had chosen to be exhibited!"