Persona: Photography and the Re-Imagined Self

With work spanning from the early 20th century to the present, Persona: Photography and the Re-Imagined Self explores the often liberating re-envisioning of identity through an alter ego.

 

Imagine you could be a different version of yourself. What parts of your identity might you reinvent?

Since the 1920s, artists have used photography to create and share alter egos that are distinct from their public-facing identity. Persona: Photography and the Re-Imagined Self gathers historical and contemporary images by artists from across the globe who engage with a character, an icon, an avatar—a persona.

Through methods as ancient as face paint or as cutting-edge as AI, these artists embody personas that are aspirational, related to social identity, or cultural norms and stereotypes. Some engage with ritual while others reject tradition. They all flirt with reality and challenge expectations. In altering themselves, these artists push us to expand our perceptions of society itself. 

Ranging from playful to political to provocative, the 80+ works in Persona: Photography and the Re-Imagined Self time-travel and gender-bend, mythologize, mask, and mirror. They are an invitation towards empathy and creativity. They represent possibility.

How will you re-envision yourself? 

This exhibition was co-curated by Pieranna Cavalchini, Tom and Lisa Blumenthal Curator of Contemporary Art, and Melissa Harris, Editor-at-Large of Aperture Foundation. It features works by:

Hakeem Adewumi, Azra Akšamija, Claude Cahun, Sophie Calle, María Magdalena Campos-Pons, Cao Fei, Jamie Diamond, John Dugdale, Samuel Fosso, Lina Geoushy, Kahn & Selesnick (Nicholas Kahn and Richard Selesnick), Mary Reid Kelley and Patrick Kelley, John Kelly, Shigeyuki Kihara, Şükran Moral, Mariko Mori, Yasumasa Morimura, Zanele Muholi, Narcissister, Man Ray and Marcel Duchamp, Tomoko Sawada, Cindy Sherman, Yinka Shonibare, Tseng Kwong Chi, Wang Qingsong, Gillian Wearing, Carrie Mae Weems, and David Wojnarowicz