Nina Conti: Masks and Art

Masks have been part of our global culture for centuries. For her episode of Artsnight, and as part of the BBC World News Identity Season, ventriloquist, comedian and documentary film-maker Nina Conti explores how masks allow us to step out of ourselves and be someone else - with a little help from her cheeky alter ego, Monkey. Nina joins a masked theatre workshop and explores the visual and political art world with New York-based masked feminist artists Guerrilla Girls and V for Vendetta co-creator David Lloyd who explains how the Guy Fawkes mask has become an internationally understood symbol of protest. She also looks at how musicians have used masks, including the metal band Slipknot, and meets the artist Mark Wardel, who had made a series of beautiful masks of the late, great David Bowie.