KANEKO’S CRIB NOTES XLII: MASK-TEMAThe inspiration for Mastema‘s mask is that of a boreg
KANEKO’S CRIB NOTES XLII: MASK-TEMAThe inspiration for Mastema‘s mask is that of a boregheh, a style of women’s face covering found in the southern regions of Iran. His lacks the striking color with which they are typically adorned but the pinched fold at the mask’s center is unmistakable. UPDATE: We think it’s highly likely Kaneko encountered the boregheh in THE FALL, a film by Tarsem starring Lee Pace and Catinca Untaru, which premiered during the festival circuit in 2006 and released worldwide in 2008 (Japan included). It’s a film of great artistic merit that surely would have appealed to Kaneko, despite its general (and tragic) obscurity. The boregheh features both on the film’s poster and as a mask for Pace’s story-within-a-story bandit character, which is in turn adopted by Untaru’s. So for Mastema, adversarial Satan analogue and generally shifty character, this “bandit” mask is an ideal fashion accessory and makes for an arresting visual, too. -- source link
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