Last week, our marketing intern Rebecca Meyer, interviewed Tony Donoghue, Masks! Exhibition Designer and mask collector, pictured below with some of the African masks in our exhibition. Here's what she found out...

Tony Donoghue has been collecting Mexican masks for twenty five years. He first started collecting in 1983 while working for the British Museum in London. Tony began collecting objects of ethnographic interest including various masks. In 1985 he moved to Los Angeles, California where he became the curator for a gallery. His passion for Mexican masks strongly developed in 1999 after working with the various Chicano artists in the gallery. Tony was hooked after that!

He became extremely fascinated by the ongoing, vibrant Mexican culture and is more interested in everyday masks used in festivities rather than rare or valuable ones. Skeletons and devils are not usually made to scare people in the Mexican culture; they are mostly used for celebrations or in a playful way. Tony finds it extraordinary how children would have as many Diablos and Muertes as toy dogs.

Tony has travelled all around Mexico collecting various masks from different places including: Baja, Guerrero, Zinuatanejo, Pueblo, Michochan, Acapulco, San Cristobal, Mexico State, and Oaxaca. He prefers to purchase his masks from the maskmaker of the village and intends to continue to collect. His masks vary in age but the oldest masks are two Viejos from 1950. Tony's Mexican mask collection includes: Muertes (skeletons), Diablos (devils), religious faces, Viejos and Viejas (old men and women), Transformations (1/2 human, 1/2 animal), Animales (animals), and Caballeros (warriors)! Tony plans to shoot a short film with mixed animation and live action in a Mexican village soon. He is particular fascinated by "Tigre" dances which are part of vibrant ongoing Mexican culture!