Reverse layer mask for label

Make a subclass of UILabel:

class InvertedMaskLabel: UILabel {
    override func drawTextInRect(rect: CGRect) {
        guard let gc = UIGraphicsGetCurrentContext() else { return }
        CGContextSaveGState(gc)
        UIColor.whiteColor().setFill()
        UIRectFill(rect)
        CGContextSetBlendMode(gc, .Clear)
        super.drawTextInRect(rect)
        CGContextRestoreGState(gc)
    }
}

This subclass fills its bounds with an opaque color (white in this example, but only the alpha channel matters). Then it draws the text using the Clear blend mode, which simply sets all channels of the context back to 0, including the alpha channel.

Playground demo:

let root = UIView(frame: CGRectMake(0, 0, 400, 400))
root.backgroundColor = .blueColor()
XCPlaygroundPage.currentPage.liveView = root

let image = UIImage(named: "Kaz-256.jpg")
let imageView = UIImageView(image: image)
root.addSubview(imageView)

let label = InvertedMaskLabel()
label.text = "Label"
label.frame = imageView.bounds
label.font = .systemFontOfSize(40)
imageView.maskView = label

Result: