"Untold Story" is a single-channel video work. Through the form of audio-visual animation, using a form of an avatar as the main character, it explores the peculiar relationship between human beings and the use of masks. The audio track is designed with a single woman's voice, which was altered to create multiple character voices.

Masks occupy an important role in the human world, from the ancient tribal era to the use of Instagram face filters in our current digital era. Other than the apparent masks, there are invisible masks as well, which we all wear in social situations. Whether physical, digital, or invisible, masks are a necessary tool that has become a part of us as social beings. The mask hides and, at the same time, reveals the self that lies inside. It is necessary to seek the inside to reveal the true self in order to understand our nature. When seeking the true nature of the individual, will the current abundance of both physical and digital diverse masks complicate this process, or will it aid the process by revealing more of the true self?
Masks are used for different purposes, such as for protection, rituals, theater, and art. During the current outcome of the pandemic crisis, more masks are being designed by designers which wearing a physical mask can become a necessity in daily life. In the modern fast-moving digital world, face-masks (filters) are available on social media platforms such as Instagram to casually portray being another version of oneself. The choices can be guided through algorithms, trends, and aesthetics. The instinctive beauty triggers the choices and the given outcome can hide the possible "Anima", which is the alter-self in the unconscious. As Carl Jung said, "The persona is a complicated system of relations between individual consciousness and society . . . a kind of mask, designed on the one hand to make a definite impression upon others, and, on the other, to conceal the true nature of the individual." Will the mask lead to discovering the "Anima" in the unconscious, opposite of the "Persona" in the conscious?




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Nao Sakamoto