We all wear a face to meet the world.
MASKS is a study of the identities we construct, inherit and inhabit.
“The persona is ... a kind of mask.”
C. G. Jung, 1928
MASKS began as a personal enquiry into the selves we construct in order to face other people.
As someone naturally more introverted, I became interested in the invisible shift that happens when we step outside ourselves and enter the world. Jung called this the persona, the social identity that exists between the individual and society.
MASKS gives that invisible persona a physical form.
From there, the project expands into speculative identities, imagined beings and reinterpretations of old myths, spirits and ghosts. Ancient archetypes are brought forward and asked a different question:
What masks will we wear in the worlds that come next?
MASKS 始于一场关于自我的探索，关于我们为了面对他人，而为自己构筑出的不同身份。
作为一个天性更偏内向的人，我一直对那种微妙的转变感到着迷。当我们走出自己的内在世界，开始面对外界时，我们也会悄然进入另一个“自我”。荣格将这种存在称为 人格面具（Persona），也就是个人与社会之间所形成的社会身份。
MASKS 试图将这种原本无形的人格面具，转化为一种可被看见、被感知的实体形式。
由此，项目进一步延伸至推想性的身份、想象中的生命体，以及对古老神话、灵体与鬼怪传说的重新诠释。那些来自过去的原型，被带入当下，并被赋予一个新的提问：
在未来的世界里，我们将戴上怎样的面具？
Before the masks took form.
The chapters
An iconological series: individually crafted personas drawn from the historical, the mythological and the speculative.
Legacy
This debut series marks the genesis of MASKS, an ongoing exploration of identity, persona and visual storytelling. Each piece is a layered imposition over portraits of real people, where digital masks are not merely worn, but inhabited. They sit between homage and invention, some playful, some solemn, some uncanny.
These early MASKS experiment. They borrow from pop, myth, sci-fi, fashion and everything in between. You'll find nods to familiar archetypes, but through warped mirrors. A synthesis of flesh and fiction, of homage and rebellion.
At its core, Legacy is about confronting the self through transformation, anonymity and the pull of becoming something else. This is where it all started.
Gods
& Monsters
This collection is a journey into the realm of personas: gods revered, myths whispered, and monsters feared.
Each mask in this series is a story, a fragment of an ancient tale, or perhaps a glimpse into a future yet to come. From the divine to the monstrous, these designs blur the line between legend and imagination.
Masks have always been more than adornments. They are gateways to identity, storytelling and transformation. In every culture, masks have symbolised power, mystery and the duality of existence, hiding and revealing all at once.
With this collection, I invite you to explore the boundaries of persona and mythology, to see the divine, the legendary and the monstrous in new ways. These artworks are not merely depictions. They are reimaginings, capturing the spirit of both the ancient and the futuristic.
Ghosts
of Asia
In Ghosts of Asia, legends and spectral figures from across the continent converge into a single image. This work reinterprets ancient folklore, from Malaysian pontianaks to Japanese yurei, Filipino kapres to Thai phi krasue, and explores the shared emotions that connect them: grief, longing, vengeance, love and memory.
These spirits, once confined to local tradition, are reimagined as archetypes in a larger, pan-Asian narrative.
While cultures differ in ritual and representation, they often reflect one another in spiritual essence. This poster is a synthesis of visual styles, symbolic motifs and intangible values, showing how mystery and belief continue to shape identity, morality and imagination across borders.
Each ghost appears not in isolation, but in conversation, honouring the distinctions between Asian cultures while holding their shared emotional and spiritual ground.
Ghosts of Asia
Anthology
Written by Azrin Muslim (Dr Azrin / Skinlord)
Bio ↗Published by Syarawi Studios · 2026
Buy the anthology ↗
It is not the end of the world. It is what comes after.
This series explores a future that has outgrown the dystopia. Set in the aftermath of high-tech decay, the world is no longer run by megacorporations but by fragmented cultures trying to reclaim identity, memory and meaning.
Each piece is a portrait of survival. Humans and hybrids have adapted not just to machines, but to the emotional void they left behind. Their expressions carry quiet defiance, their wearables are relics of forgotten wars, and their masks are not for hiding, but for holding on.
Rendered in richly layered detail, this series blends grit with grace: rusted chrome, neon scars, spiritual circuitry.
Found your mask?
This is your intermission.
A breath. A moment between identities.
To cleanse the visual palate before we go deeper.
Ichor
For its eccentricity, its leathery organic flows of skeletons, it’s a horror kink, almost as if it’s an inside-out, inverted and butterflied anatomy, with that unnatural sticky gloss. Alien is strange, confusing and yet ultimately beautiful.
I adore the works of H.R. Giger. It freaks you out, but there's an aspect of unease that you crave. This is my homage to the works of a master.
It’s a headdress, made for the queen hybrid. It was a study of facehuggers, and the evolution of their form upon attack. They latch on, and stay, actively growing.
My biggest undertaking since the beginning of MASKS. His biomechanical style, and particularly his Necronomicon series of surreal airbrush paintings, stays with me.
I’d credit the Alien franchise, and by extension Giger, as my earliest exposure to sci-fi, well before I first saw Star Wars or Star Trek.
Reinterpretation, not replication.
HERETICS is a tribute. A series of homages to the icons, stories and aesthetics that shaped us. Each piece draws from pop culture and rethreads it with new meaning, filtered through collaboration, admiration and personal vision. It’s also a celebration of the artists I’ve worked with, and the subtle echoes of their work that live on here.
At its heart, HERETICS rests on a simple truth: we are not starting from scratch. We are continuations, a dialogue with what came before, and a bridge to what comes next.
While each design may carry a familiar whisper, it’s the act of transformation that defines this collection. HERETICS doesn’t just look back, it reshapes. It asks what happens when influence meets invention, when tribute becomes creation. Originality often begins with recognition.
Specimens
Each mask in this series is an experiment in identity. Too strange, too personal, too unrepeatable for the mainline collections.
These are the outliers. Made in solitude, often sparked by a single emotion or fleeting thought. Some feel raw and unfinished. Others, too honest to fit anywhere else.
Not bound by polish or consistency, but by feeling. They weren’t made to be understood. They were made because they had to be.
Close to the heart, and a little left of center. Handle with care.
Letter from the Archive “They told me to destroy them. Said they were too unstable, too incomplete. Some didn’t even pass the resonance tests. Others… they just made people feel too much. But I kept them anyway. Locked them away in a place memory forgets. Not because they were flawed, but because they were honest. These were not meant for mass production or the showroom floor. These were the prototypes that whispered back. If you're reading this, then somehow, they've found you. You’re holding a Specimen. Not a product. A confession.” S.
Incarnate
INCARNATE marks a new point in the MASKS journey, a shift from experimentation into a more deliberate state of making. What began as sketches and improvised sculptures has grown into forms that feel certain of themselves.
This chapter observes transformation. The body of work steps forward from the mythic and the mechanical, into something more human. Each mask carries its own presence, not as an object to wear, but as a living character that continues to evolve long after the moment you meet it.
This chapter reflects growth. Ideas that once felt speculative now stand complete. The pieces move from collectors’ shelves into exhibitions, conversations and new cultural spaces.
INCARNATE is not a finale. It is a continuation of a longer becoming.
Artefacts
A special thanks to Dr Azrin / Skinlord (Azrin Muslim), writer of the Ghosts of Asia anthology, and to my dearest collectors, especially Qdinhvo and Laurens.
Indra Gondi, hellofaten, kamal hasan, mrlucaz, Amet, lahseminit, Nymea, Momok, Shaemus, Dsanka, M., Irzz, Amir Blackflag, AzamRazak, Saem
And to the unrelenting hordes of supporters and collaborators: Huxsterized, DrRobo7, Qcomrades, Artformation, Trotssler, Nanieko, Arttech, Yxji, Yve, Arda, Tiz, Tigerpunks, Aijay, headsink.
This artbook is dedicated to Shazuin, Arya, Sharif, Sarina, Suvani, Sirima, Mokhtar Bajunid, Azhar and children, and to my teammates at Syarawi Architect / Studios: Sara-Ann, Zhi Hern, Nagulan, Helsa Tanamal, Jean Kian and Ar. Firadaus.
Your love and support are my greatest inspirations.