Persona

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© 2022-2026 Maxim Timofeev

Persona

“Persona” – a term originating from ancient Greek theater, denoting an
actor’s mask. This series of paintings delves into the archetypes of roles
we adopt and the masks we don to perform on the stage of everyday life.
Imagine your current surroundings as a stage.
In different acts of our lives, we wear various masks: with our parents,
we are children seeking approval; in front of traffic police, polite citi-
zens yearning for understanding; laying out vegetables at the checkout,
everyday shoppers immersed in the routine of daily life.
What scene just played out in your mind?
A mask is a tool, a method, a game. We craft masks, and we can also
dismantle them. They can be a prison or a key to freedom -
the choice is ours.
The mask gazes at you.
Removing the mask, we return to our true selves, to that infinite depth
of being that exists beyond roles. “Persona” invites viewers to a moment
of self-reflection, offering a chance to see that the true ‘self’ is always
something more than any role we might play.

Count how many roles you have assumed today.

As I began recalling my personas, I unexpectedly found myself writing four of them at the same time. What started as an experiment in developing four works simultaneously gradually turned into something larger: more and more personas began to emerge in the process. In the end, I wrote twelve of them — though I suspect even that is not the full number.