Masks depicting an ethnographic tour of the world.
Diario Hoy
Eight years ago Marta Díez set off on a new search in order to develop her art.Without meaning to, she turned her production into an ethnographic recreation through the production of masks from various parts of the world.Almost involuntarily, artist Marta Díez has become an ethnographer, even if without a diploma. This took place eight years ago, when she stopped painting pictures and started producing masks. In time, what had begun in a nearly casual way became a deep research that drove her to travel the world. Art manifestation and the recreation of various cultures that she had become acquainted with combine in a vast production, a part of which is on exhibition since yesterday at the La Plata Museum of Natural Sciences.It is not by chance that the idea of bringing that exhibition to our city should have been presented by Héctor Blas Lahitte, who is the chief of the Scientific Division at the Ethnographic Museum. “A mask as a form of representation may be of assistance in re-establishing links with areas, cultures and men”, says the scientist at the opening of the display.“Since 1999 I have devoted to masks only”, says the artist to “Hoy” ´s representative, as she reminisces on her first big picture with several masks.The idea that had come to her mind was painting masks from all over the world. Even if hers is an artist´s view, the product will necessarily have an ethnographic value together with her own interpretation of her having been in contact with various cultures. “This search is beginning to engage all of my work. It stems from the idea that one´s eyes do not reflect everything that one is or carries inside, which in fact is to be found in the different masks that one puts on,” says Díez as she recalls one of her first pieces: a looking glass with a masked face and the disquieting question, “What mask am I wearing today?”Marta has carried on along that road for years. Her inner search has been accompanied by the fact of her getting closer to different cultures. “I travelled, and I investigated in depth,” she says while acknowledging that such a search is never-ending “because every time I come across a new mask, I find something within myself that I had been unaware of.”The exhibition in La Plata City consists of 16 pieces. “Five of them mention pre-Hispanic moments”, explains the artist. They are made through the technique of cartapesta – a light material – and they carry images of double-headed dragons, shamans and the weeping woman of the Argentine North, as well as reminiscences of the Calchaquí valleys.Also on exhibition are two Kayan women – which are personal representations of female submission -, a stone Buddha, and one of the attractions: an Egyptian queen with a scarcely visible Chinese dragon made in silver. “It will defy viewers´detection power”, says Díez as she proposes the game to visitors.