MASTERS OF DISGUISE

This exhibition introduces three Contemporary Korean photographers whose practices revolve around masquerading in self-portraits—Chan-Hyo Bae, Jung S Kim, and Youngho Kang. They question the hybridization of cultures in the age of globalization. Using masquerade to explore their individual personas, they design props, costumes, make-up, and hairdos to create staged images. Fluidity and artificiality, as manifested by their ever-changing appearances, draw attention to the superficiality of biological and cultural markers. By blurring the boundaries of gender (all three, but especially Bae and Kim) and race (Bae and Kang), these artists challenge and destabilize conventional notions of culture, race, and gender as determinants of personal identity.