Covered in garbage bags and sheets, I sat with my eyes closed as two women covered my face in cold plaster gauze, Saturday afternoon.
Admittedly, I was hesitant to participate, unsure about handing myself over to these women鈥攗nsure about covering my eyes and my mouth and being left mute and blind, as plaster worked into the creases of my face.
But, for some reason, I surrendered.
And as I did, I was presented with a choice: cover my entire face in the damp gauze, only leaving small nostril holes to breathe from, or leave openings for my mouth and eyes.
Initially, I was inclined to cover everything but my eyes鈥攈aving seen how beautiful lips look once moulded with the gauze, and feeling uncertain about being completely unaware of my surroundings.
But after a few encouraging words from Grace Kohn, who had organized this two-day mask making workshop, I decided to go all in.
And so it began, Kohn and Margo Bereska got to work, each smoothing layer upon layer of cold, damp strips over my face, carefully avoiding the wisps of hair falling down from behind my headband.
At first, as the pair covered my cheeks and forehead, I found myself feeling incredibly vulnerable. With the garbage bag over my body, I couldn鈥檛 move my arms. I couldn鈥檛 scratch an itch or brush my hair back. Rather, I just had to sit back and accept the moment and accept their hands on my face.
It wasn鈥檛 until my eyes were covered that my shoulders loosened and I finally relaxed. I don鈥檛 know if it was the gentle pressure on my eyes or just losing my sight, but with my eyes sealed shut, I let go and turned inwards.
And for those 30 minutes, I only thought about one thing鈥攏ot the job I had to do when the workshop was done or the errands I had to run or the stressful week ahead鈥攁ll that existed was a vision of my mask.
It was almost like being in a sensory deprivation tank. Without sight or speech, I was able to block out my everyday distractions鈥攎y email, my social media feeds, my phone, my responsibilities, everything鈥攁nd just be.
And then the mask came off.
That was possibly one of the most powerful parts of the workshop. For some, the experience elicited squeals of joy, for others sighs of relief and for others still there were shrieks of pain, as hair was pulled from their scalps.
But for each of us, there was a moment of recognition, where we saw ourselves in a different way, recognizing our features, both good and bad, in these individual pieces of collaborative art. On the inside, we saw every minute detail, every wrinkle and imperfection, and on the outside we saw a smooth surface鈥攐ne that resembles us, but doesn鈥檛 give away all of our secrets.
The following day, once our casts were hardened, all 11 workshop participants returned for four hours of creative play, painting, gluing and accessorizing our masks with everything from stickers to nylons, feathers, tissue paper and rocks.
And in the end, each mask was as unique as the person who created it.
The workshop, which was held at the Jasper Adult Learning Centre and led by Sharon Anderson, was a fundraiser for the Children of Autumn Foundation. The foundation aims to bring a hyperbaric chamber to Jasper to treat people with a variety of illnesses and health conditions.
To learn more, visit childrenofautumn.com.
听Nicole Veerman
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