Masquerade / the Illusion of Oneself #1

In 2011, I began to work on what I call now "Masquerade, the Illusion of Oneself", a photo series questioning our existences, identities and the ego in general. I've found in face painting a nice way to practice both drawing/painting and portrait photography. I worked on this around 5 years, painted and photographed more than 300 persons from about 50 different countries. If my intention was to show, through grotesque make-up, the fake and superficial aspect of our contemporary society, based on image and appearance, with TV, magazines and social networks, I was also trying to reach behind the masks and the surfaces/faces, the true essence of humankind.