Hello, people of Wonderland! Recently I took part in a very special exhibition and I wanted to tell you about it 🙂 The exhibition took place in an art studio called Resdient Creative, where you can get tattooed but also chill and just be surrounded by creativity and maybe be creative yourself. It was made by Daria Reiin aka Reiinku and thoughtfully set up in a cellar under the studio. The exhibition is up until the end of the month and I would highly recommend you going there if you would happen to be in Hamburg, Germany^^ But keep in mind that you have to make an appointment first, stay safe and healthy!

The room you see in the photo was actually hidden behind a curtain and filled up with smoke, so the lighting would really come to play. It was really cool to see the art being framed by the room, which kinda looked like a piece of art itself with the shibari-styled ropes and other decorations. You could really say going in there was an experience, it was not only about viewing the art itself but feeling the eeriness and the exhibition as a whole. It was really interesting and I can’t say that I have experienced anything like that ever before. Of course, it’s never the same in the pictures, it’s something to really be felt in real-time.

The concept behind the exhibition referring to its name “broken” was the social concept of wearing masks. Maybe to adjust to a certain environment or to hide something, we don’t want others to see, many people wear a kind of mask on a daily basis. And some people might be wearing their masks for so long, that they can’t even imagine life without them anymore. So what would happen if some of those masks begin to crack, break, and shatter, revealing what has been sheltered underneath. And what would we see then? Would it be the same person that put the mask on in the first place or would they have been changed?

Some of these questions might get answered, through the paintings we see hanging in the room. They are of two different people. One wearing a mask to look like a pretty girl, maybe the white represents being pure. But when it crumbles, the mask reveals that there is something dark underneath, something dangerous also being represented by the flower wilting away. On the other side, we have a person wearing a mask to look angry, hideous even, but the cracks reveal a beautiful and loving face, emphasized by the flower in its full glory. So you could see it that way: Some people try to look pretty, but they are ugly on the inside, whether as people who seem angry on the outside, might be loving in reality.

The main piece of the exhibition was a jean jacket, entangled in ropes with the drawing of a girl losing her mask entirely. I especially like how the jacket itself is held up, it looks very dynamic, almost as if you could imagine the girl wearing the jacket while being shocked about the loss of her mask and possibly a big part of her identity. The mask is of a japanese demon called Oni being portrait with his horns, yellow glowing eyes, and sharp teeth. The girl behind the mask wears a little make-up, she almost looks innocent in comparison. But she too has horns, so maybe she did not lose everything with the broken mask. Maybe a part of her already identifies with the demon she wore. I like to interpret that as a girl who is shy and maybe scared but wearing a mask of confidence to protect herself. So when the mask falls down, some of this confidence still remains, meaning that she is now able to protect herself without the mask too or it could mean the demon is still inside her, even if it seems like she might have lost it.

All in all, it was a very special and intriguing experience, I am very happy to have taken part in it! What was especially interesting and might not be possible in every exhibition, is that the artist herself led us through and talked with us about her intentions for every piece. I might not have done justice writing about it here and now, but like I said in the beginning: if you get the chance to experience it yourself, do it 😉 If there are any other exhibitions done by Reiinku, I will be definitely sure to check them out! And if you want to check the amazing artist behind this exhibition out, you can do so here:

Reiinku’s Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/reiinku/?hl=de
Reiinku’s website: https://reiinku.com/

Greetings and good wishes
The Mad Hattress