"This Maya mask shows the different stages of life as part of a never ending cycle of human evolution through life and the afterlife as it was understood by the Mayans. The mask has three layered faces, each representing one particular stage of life. The inner face represents the beginning of life at birth. The middle face is the most important one since it represents the adult stage when the person comes into his full potential and most of his life experiences happened. The outer or third face represents the end of earthly life.
This sacred time was viewed by the Maya as the end of one cycle and the beginning of another one. Death was followed by lavish preparations for the next life."
quoted from: http://www.squidoo.com/mayan_civilization
This ancient artwork of the ancient mayan civilization bears great relevance to my artwork. This artwork explores the theme of the circle of life and the issue of aging and death. The 3 different masks also illustrates the physical appearance of people at the different stages of life. The masks actually uses the textures and characteristics of the faces to symbolize the different ages. The smooth texture of the inner most mask symbolise the start of life, when the child or youth has not yet experienced the society yet, and he is still calm.
The mask in the middle (which symbolises adulthood) is depicted with lines over the masks which represents the winkles on adults' faces after experiencing the society and the complexity of life.
The outermost layer shows a very calm expression. As the mayans believe that "the end of one cycle is the beginning of another", so the mayans actually enjoys the progress of death as they believe that they are going to embark on a new journey.
The sculpture also discusses the theme of death, where they do not fear it, instead they welcome it as they will be experiencing something new soon.
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