From Behind the Mask

From Behind the Mask by artist Eric Okdeh is located in the Parkside neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The design took its inspiration from a summers worth of neighborhood programs involving writing, painting, and mask making, and is very loosely inspired by the Paul Lawrence Dunbar poem ”We Wear the Mask”. The theme revolves around healing, and the ways in which ones faith and surrounding friends and neighbors can provide support. The photos are taken from actual events over the summer, and the two main figures were summer participants who posed for me. The imagery of the waterfall in the arches appears as actual stained glass that took Okdeh and his assistants a month to cut. The waterfall continues in paint below the bridge. The water and the idea of reflection were a way of bringing religious elements to the design, which was a collaborative effort between the Graterford Prison Class and Eric Okdeh.