A witty observer of the multifaceted and conflicting sociopolitical conditions of the interwar period, Cahun understood the importance of cross-dressing and masks in creating identity. "Under this mask, another mask," she wrote. "I will never finish removing all these faces." Cahun jotted these words on one of the photomontages in her 1930 book Aveux non avenus (Disavowals), which outlines her interest in role playing, masking, and doubling. She shaved her head and posed in a variety of male costumes, ranging from that of a stylish dandy to that of a conventionally suited civil servant, but, as in this work, she also fashioned a feminine, puppetlike persona through the artifice of dress, makeup, and disguise.