Artifact: Jade Burial Mask

A mask is an overlay of inspired information; all masks are essentially informed skin. Standing alone, ornamentation on this undulating surface suggests it might lock into another configuration (namely, the human face). Specifically, these cues take the form of apertures. Personal space is created when the mask is activated, or worn. By overlaying the mask on the face, a small space is created: the space between. Here, in this limited space, daily functions take on greater meaning. Warm breathing patterns are recognized; line of vision restricted by the mask-boundary becomes realized. Ultimately, fleshy functions gain appreciation. Registration of facial features between the two layers--real skin and constructed skin--creates strong spatial projections from facial orifices. Eyes, mouth, and occasionally nose project through mask apertures, not in form but rather in function (i.e. line of vision, forced air movement to the nose and mouth).

Masks protect, entertain, and are used ceremonially. To Uxmal inhabitants, facial features of the deceased inform mask designs. Masks often made of jade--the precious Mayan equivalent of gold--with shell inserts may be found in royal burial chambers. The intimacy between human skin and mask manifested as small-scale spaces is proportionally relative to the entire human body and the burial space; it is the intimacy of the space between.