A handshake is reversible' employs humour, surrealism, and childhood tropes to explore ideas of monotony, duplicity and the connection between extreme states such as sadness, joy and horror. The point of departure for this work is a stone carving of an ancient Greek theatre mask depicting the ‘ruler/slave’, a stock character of the new comedy from the 2nd century BC. This anachronistic cartoon-like carving sports a maniacal open mouth grin and heavily furrowed brow, combining the tragic and comic into one. Recounting an ancient rags to riches tale, the mask could also reference a story of a favoured slave who later became a sultan. 'A handshake is reversible' provides an analogy to modern capitalism both through its false promise of class mobility, and the destablising effects that this individualistic system produces in our collective psyche.