This digital exhibition was researched, written, and curated by Libby McMahon, 2026 Collections Intern at PAAM.

"I wear a mask. And that mask, it’s not to hide who I am, but to create what I am." - Batman

Throughout its history, Provincetown has offered freedom and escape. Whether in search of religious freedom, creative freedom, or sexual freedom, the tip of Cape Cod has always diverged from typical social norms.

Colors seem brighter, identities feel truer, and love grows stronger. Masks come off. The individuality of Provincetown becomes more pronounced in comparison to life beyond the dunes. The veil descends. The distasteful realities set in.

The following collection investigates how Provincetown bucks the mold of the average American town, specifically addressing the concept of social masking and the altered identities we form in response to societal pressures and in search of belonging.

However, the masks we put on are multifaceted. Simultaneously, they are both, good and bad, protection and harm, acceptance and denial, amplification and defusing. With endless alternatives, what truly defines the function of a mask is the individual and the community surrounding them.

*Works are automatically organized in alphabetical order. For a heightened experience, view the collection in the following order.*

1. Cenote Escape

2. Lamentation

3. Untitled (Closed Ward)

4. No Familiar Hand…

5. Primal Sign I

6. Cafe Brasserie

7. I Hate How You Love Me

8. Pile of Eyes

9. Lonely

10. Frontal Street Scene

11. Self Portrait

12. John by John

13. The Girls - Tina

14. Bea Putting on Her Makeup

15. Great Moments in Art History

16. All the Guys I Slept with in the ‘60s

17. Hartwig House, Truro

18. Andrew on Crane, Provincetown

19. Nat’s Back

20. Beach Series I

21. Life Support

22. Lobster Pot

23. Lounge

24. Robbie Turner

25. The Pilgrim Monument

Judy Shahn

Art

Provincetown Art Association and Museum

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