I Apostrophe S (2021)

Coventry Biennial: HYPER POSSIBLE, Leamington Spa Museum & Art Gallery


 

‘I Apostrophe S’ is a black & white moving image work exploring identity and ‘masking’. The work asks how many identities do we exhibit in a day and do we ever really reveal our true selves? Is our true self forever trapped behind the mask, existing only on the inner surface and hidden from view?  

 

Richard Weihe, author of ‘The Paradox of the Mask’, considers “The ambiguity of the face and mask becomes immediately visible.  Wherever the vivid interaction between gaze and facial expression is disturbed or interrupted.”  

 

Incorporating  silence,  repetition and layering, the work questions power, care, social expectations and  visibility, asking, “who is looking at who and who is seeing, who?” Suggesting “I see you not seeing me”

 

The slippages and interplay between self and others informs the work, alongside lived experience as a neurodivergent person, continuously observing and adapting as a necessary act of self-care. Yet the weight of so many masks is heavy and exhausting. Therein lies a paradox and the unanswered questions of “who am I and who are you?”