the Masquerade

The Venice Carnival has been brought back from the dead by the Italian government in the 70s to reinstate the Venetian tradition of the mask and costume, which was only allowed to be worn during specific times of the year due to the 'immoral' behavior mask-bearers would indulge in.  But most likely, the revival of this carnival was to promote tourism. I must say it works, as I found myself in the narrow cobbled streets  of Venice last weekend during the last three days of the carnival.

Despite the annoying number of annoying tourists in the city, I could get some great shots of men and women donning their most elaborate costumes and masks (check out my DeviantArt gallery for the photos).  There is something magical and a bit eerie in the way they hold themselves - very still with only the slightest of movements.  For most of them, I couldn't even see their eyes behind their full-face masks, called bautas.  I could only see blank, black holes that looked out at me.  The background of gondolas, San Marco, and the aquatic city just made the whole experience very cinematic.

I created a video from my trip to highlight this eerie feeling of statuesque poses and slight movements that belie it all.  Check it out on Vimeo! Link here.

"I couldn't even see her eyes moving behind the bauta. Her statuesque pose echoed the city's stillness. Then the slightest of movements - a nod, a shift of the fingers, a footstep - gave away what lay underneath the mask and the costume. It was in those fleeting moments that Venice came to be as it once was. Every man and woman in a masquerade ball pretending; a carnival celebrating the Venetian tradition of anonymity."