Our face masks differ both visually and functionally from those adopted 100 years ago. Nearly everyone now has an augmented reality chip rendering the need to “view” through our own eyes unnecessary. Early versions of this technology such as Google Glass, Hololens & Occulatrans augmented reality but still required the user look through their own eyes, whilst the latest technologies interface directly with the brain. This means that the majority of masks worn today cover the eyes entirely.

 

In 2120 almost everything, from thoughts and concepts, factual information, advertisements and emotions are transferred from individual to individual, citizen to citizen, peer-to-peer through the use of synthetic telepathy. This breakthrough has had profound effects on the way in which information is accumulated raising concerns about the nature of individual privacy.

 

It is now thought that the way an individual looks is the only thing that can successfully be kept private from the world with the use of a well-designed face mask. It has become quite fashionable to commission a face mask that covers as much of the face as possible. The wearers of these masks often choose designs that hark back to a world before synthetic telepathy.

 

Many choose to adorn their masks with rare and wondrous items in particular items from nature that would have been common place in the early twenty-first century but are now scarce; seeds, flowers, shells or various artefacts that evoke the natural world. The most prestigious masks feature living elements rather than artificial constructs. The mask you see here is a simple example featuring dried flora with textures and colours inspired by the wearers ancestral lands.