SBTRKT YOUNG TURKS EP 2 finalOkayafrica linked up with A Hidden Place, the anonymous designer and visual art director behind in-demand UK electronic producer SBTRKT's tribal masks and album covers.
SBTRKT has described your masks as a "modern version of ceremonial masks from native societies," where did the influence for the design come from?
They're inspired by many native and ancient societies from a global viewpoint. It's been said that they are African perhaps because of the triangles, but when you look into it you’ll find many influences that also stem from India to Central & South America. I do like the 3D masks of the Dogon people and perhaps the triangles you might see on masks from the Congo. I love the use of colour from Aztec art in general, but I'm also really into colourful wildlife too.
It's difficult to say really, after you expose yourself to so many different images they seem to merge and your output becomes an imagined commune of them. It's really the ethereal quality that’s so fascinating with "native societies"... the fact that it all becomes surreal. It is an escapism from the ordinary.
