The MOMSK Collective has started their first show in two years, looking at the social, cultural, and physical experience of immigration beyond the theatrical trend of “pain porn.” The exotification of pain, specifically in theatre has created a trend of othering pain as entertainment. MOMSK Collective seeks to reanalyze the theme of immigration and what it means to migrate from the physical lens, looking at the body as text.

Our practice as physical performers demands a balance between the body and the message, and we know that leaning too much into one is at the deficit of the other. By building a collective with diverse skills and backgrounds we aim to achieve this gestalt point of view, honoring the body as text, while committing to honest and open storytelling with the help of Balinese Masks.

Maria Eugenia Blanco is a master Balinese Mask Maker and Director with over ten years of experience carving masks and guiding artists to use them for personal and professional practice. Her dedication to this honored and transcendental art form in Bali and beyond has allowed her to create her own mask research through the lens of the mask as immigrants. By honoring the culture they come from and devising with the cultural concepts behind their creation and performative use in Bali, Maria respects their cultural use and roots, while sharing the ritual of the mask as a scenic tool. Maria is one of many mask pedagogues looking at the transformative use of traditional masks like Jacque Lecoq did with Carnival Masks from Basel to create the modern Larval Mask.