Mask Summary
This connects to commedia dell’arte, specifically illogical lazzi through the mouth being
displayed on the forehead. I wanted the mouth on the forehead to have a deeper meaning being
how it reminds me of how people hide behind masks and what people say is not what they think.
This connects to one of the class excursions through the incorporation of the color gold as it
reminds me of Teatro La Fencie in the royal box when everything was covered in gold leaf.
To connect to one of the contents in class, we had a reading on illogical lazzi where it contains
humor with a distorted sense of simple logic. Because in this case, it would be obvious that a
mouth cannot grow outside of your forehead, but it is a funny thought to think about. An
example of illogical lazzi from the reading was when Pantalone gets confused about the strange
events around him and begins to go crazy and shouts “there is no real knowledge” after each
bizarre action.
This mask also reminds me of one of the sculptures we saw in the beginning of this trip when
we saw a baby wearing a mask but it looked like it was a man face with a baby body. This is not
realistic in the same sense that the mouth on the forehead isn’t realistic.
To connect this mask with the study abroad experience, I made the bottom of the mask rocky to
demonstrate the uneasy transition and culture shock I experienced while being here in Venice.
Whether a European woman tells my friends and I that Americans are uneducated and ignorant
because we cannot understand the Italian language or the lack of ice and cars in the city of
Venice, I’ve still learned to grow so much from this experience.