![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.joiearnold.art\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/The-Mask.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nWhile building this website, I found this piece in a group of slides I\u2019d apparently taken in the early 90’s, and while the photograph is poor quality & god only knows where the original is. The Mask commands a special page of it’s own among my collective work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was barely twenty years old in 1989 when I made this self-portrait. Here, I am the jester, the clown holding a “normal\u201d face mask, which I needed to present myself in the world. It speaks volumes today, because at the time I was completely unaware I was a masking autistic. The image represents how I felt in my own skin, until 2023, when I set the mask down and gave myself permission to love myself for who I am.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My hope, in sharing this piece, is that it will encourage you to embrace your <\/em>genuine self, give yourself permission to love who you <\/em>are, and be there to support others who are still struggling to find themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Mask While building this website, I found this piece in a group of slides I\u2019d apparently taken in the early 90’s, and while the photograph is poor quality & god only knows where the original is. The Mask commands a special page of it’s own among my collective work. I was barely twenty years … <\/p>\n
\u201cIf I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am not for others, what am I? And if not now, when?\u201d-Rabbi Hillel<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n