Alyssa Gilpin

Costume Party

I’ve struggled with feeling familiar with myself for a very long time, essentially since childhood. I grew up as an only child with the center focus always being around me which has caused a lot of anxiety and, ironically, prevalent feelings of loneliness and unfamiliarity with not only my surroundings but myself. As I’ve gotten older, I find myself able to process these feelings and how they have shaped me into who I am today. How I act, how I present myself, and how I externally view myself and also others around me. In the series Costume Party, I wanted to explore how I personally view identity through the lens of my upbringing, and how identity shows and hides itself in different forms. By repurposing my family’s archives, I’m able to visibly show my relationship to these people and moments through this unfamiliar lens, and create my own images that fit the personal narration of my childhood. We as humans do have a genuine state of ourselves, whether we’re in touch with it or not, but there are also masks lying around us that we consciously or unconsciously use as comfort.