WHO is WHO?
We recall that memorable night in the spring of 1980, when, out of a twist of fate, a sleeping mask and a Polaroid camera had their first encounter on the dining-room table of a penthouse in Frankfurt. The two of us had been up until the wake of dawn and the sun was already sneaking in through the window. We don’t really remember who actually came up with the idea. But snatch, zoom and zip, all of a sudden two pictures had been taken. Portraits of two faceless or, much more, two blind persons. They were the trophies of a hunt that was just to begin. For one thing was obvious straight away: This would turn out to be a series. A series which was not to end before Madonna, the Pope and Ronald Reagan had put a sleep mask on their face for a photo. This is how long ago that was.

These three are missing in the line-up until today, which perhaps is due to the fact that I never got to meet them. For rarely did anyone refuse to pose as a model for the series. Among those who did said no was the artist Christo. “I will not let myself be wrapped up”, he declared. Apart from that one could get the impression that the artists encountered at parties, before film premieres, at exhibition openings, or after concerts and lectures were just waiting to be asked whether they would be interested in having their picture taken with a sleep mask on. “My pleasure,” they would answer. “That’s great“, replied the Surrealist Meret Oppenheim, “that way you don’t have to smile.” Deborah Harry, singer of the rock group “Blondie”, said: “How nice. I can close my eyes without looking silly.”
Joseph Beuys, the shaman among German artists, pressed the fabric against his temples and, despite all the turmoil around him, looked as though he was fiercely concentrating in order to receive some sort of waves from out of nowhere. But some of the persons being photographed succumbed to a feeling of unease. They would glimpse out from underneath the mask, as did Iris Berben, or react like Elliott Erwitt, who put the mask on the back of his head. Whereas Robert Mapplethorpe spoke out what many others only hinted at while the Polaroids slowly developed before their eyes: “This is like an execution.” He leaned stiffly against the wall with every fibre in his body tense. Of course it’s like an execution. Draw. Aim. Shoot. It’s precisely this procedure which is imitated each time a person stands before a camera. And oftentimes, later on the photo, faces reveal themselves as though in rigor mortis or as a kind of death mask on paper.

Tomi Ungerer, Artist, France 1987

A belief common among some indigenous people or also in some religious communities is that photography steals the soul of the one being photographed. It makes people nervously draw a cloth over their face as soon as a camera is in sight; it may even upset them to the point that they’ll run away. We arrogantly call this kind of belief superstition. And yet we too must admit that each time we find ourselves in front of a camera, a part of us gets lost. “Well then, at least I don’t have to watch,” all those could argue who place a sleeping mask between the lens and themselves as though drawing a curtain.
And what is it all for? Is it to serve as proof that, on criminal photos, the black bar on the face of an innocent person will never ever be enough to protect them? That’s one aspect. A guessing game to find out how distinctive a particular portrait is, a “Who’s who?” in the true sense of the word? It’s mainly this. For aside from the pleasure of participating in the experiment, vanity is always part of the game when celebrities cover the allegedly most important part of their face. They want to find out if people will still recognize them – even with their eyes in disguise.

Claudia Cardinale, Phtos Freddy Langer, 2002

More than three hundred and fifty actors and authors, directors and photographers, painters and sculptors, musicians, but also athletes and politicians have posed with the sleep mask so far. More precisely: with two sleep masks. One is turquoise, the other chequered. By the way, three persons are still missing in the series: Madonna, the Pope and Barack Obama.
Freddy Langer
(Translation: Barbara Lang)