Photography and Text By Derek Clark
Masks - we all wear them. They may not look like The Gimp from Pulp Fiction, but we all have different ones for different people we meet. There's the 'meet the in-laws for the first time' mask. Or 'I'm a really conscientious worker' mask. Most of the time we don't even realise we've switched masks, it's just so seamless and we slip from one to the other as the social occasion requires. These are the harmless masks we all use at some point.
But there's a more sinister mask out there. The one that stands up and preaches on a Sunday about good and evil, telling you how you must lead a good life and resist sin. But behind that mask might be your kids worst nightmare. Or Jimmy Savile, the UK TV presenter with a knighthood from the Queen. You know, the one that was always eager to do lots of charity work for the children, and actually had keys to a wing of mental hospital. That mask was almost transparent, but it worked for many many years. People saw through it, but if it's worn with confidence it will work.
Thankfully the mask you see here is the harmless kind. The kind you buy on eBay after consuming a bit too much alcohol. The guy wearing it is an open book who shares everything, without restraint. Sometimes too much.
He has less masks than anybody else I know.
