{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1607263"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1607263/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2021NA7128/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2021NA7128/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2021NA7128","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2021NA7127","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2021NA7126","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2021NA7125","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1607263/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1607263","accessionNumber":"ME.16-2021","objectType":"Mask","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"","physicalDescription":"","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Bita Ghezelayagh","id":"AUTH359573"},"association":{"text":"artist","id":"AAT25103"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"silk (textile)","id":"AAT243428"}],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"","categories":[],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"MES","id":"THES48607"},"images":["2021NA7128","2021NA7127","2021NA7126","2021NA7125"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"007","id":"THES394964"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"masks (costume)","id":"AAT138758"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[],"productionDates":[],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Presented by Art Fund","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"15","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"17.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":"Not including ties"}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Golden Spider mask: This has been the most time-consuming of her mask-making projects – she refers to the spider as her “lockdown friend”. The green base fabric is a handwoven silk velvet made on a traditional loom in Kashan, Iran. The web is silkscreen-printed on to the velvet: she did this in Iran, one of her first experiments with silkscreen-printing onto textile.\r\n\r\nDuring lockdown, she came across the V&A’s film about the Golden Spider Silk Cape, lent to us by Simon Peers and Nicholas Godley, for the display curated by Rowan Bain. Bita was inspired by this to add a crawling spider to the web on this textile. She began a collaboration with a teacher at the Royal School of Needlework, and commissioned the embroidery of the Golden Spider through Zoom and by posting the fabric. She said they discussed “every thread used in making it, the size, the bump…” It took three months from the first idea until the delivery of the finished embroidery. She talks about spiders being symbols of the cosmos, while the web is metaphorical for the homes we are all stuck in during lockdown. The mask is lined with silk, and has a wire sewn through it to keep it easily on the face.","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["ME.16-2021"],"accessionNumberNum":"16","accessionNumberPrefix":"ME","accessionYear":2021,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-10-17","recordCreationDate":"2021-04-15","availableToBook":true}}