{"id":690,"date":"2024-08-26T16:00:29","date_gmt":"2024-08-26T16:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tweez.me\/?p=690"},"modified":"2024-09-16T13:02:46","modified_gmt":"2024-09-16T13:02:46","slug":"across-rural-europe-ashley-suszczynski-photographs-remarkable-and-ancient-masked-traditions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/tweez.me\/index.php\/2024\/08\/26\/across-rural-europe-ashley-suszczynski-photographs-remarkable-and-ancient-masked-traditions\/","title":{"rendered":"Across Rural Europe, Ashley Suszczynski Photographs Remarkable and Ancient Masked Traditions"},"content":{"rendered":"
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As a child, Ashley Suszczynski<\/a> used to draw copiously in her school notebooks and escape into the chimerical worlds of books. “I loved the imaginative illustrations,” she tells Colossal. “Each story sent me into a new world, and I kind of dissociated from my own… Every page was full of magic and mystery\u2014an immersive adventure into lands of mythical monsters, talking animals, the weird and the wonderful.”<\/p>\n The fascination with legends and supernatural creatures persisted into adulthood, forming the basis of Suszczynski’s love for photography, folklore, and cultures around the world. “Several years ago, I learned about a masquerade in the north of Spain called La Vijanera<\/a>,” she says. “The characters looked like those I had imagined from the pages of my childhood stories.” Anthropomorphic, fur-covered creatures met tree nymphs and spirits of the woodlands, all enrobed in remarkably elaborate handmade costumes.<\/p>\n