The mask serves the dual purpose of embodying an alternative identity while preserving the anonymity of its wearer. To reveal and conceal simultaneously, to be both a face and a non-face: it is within this ambiguous duality that papiyon’s interdisciplinary and rhizomatic practice takes shape. Working under a pseudonym, the concept of the alter ego allows them to explore a plurality of identities beyond the one biologically assigned to them, and to resist these categories—social, racial, artistic—that would confine them to a fixed individuality. An emblem of emancipation brought about by carnival and Black resilience across continents and centuries, the mask is an object of both celebration and revolution. 
In the form of free assemblages of recycled fabrics, papiyon deploys this symbol of Creolity to disrupt the linearity of the white, immaculate exhibition space, thereby invoking mythologies in constant flux.

 — Megan Macnaughton