(UNFAMILIAR) – KATE LAPISH

March 14th – 17th, 2019
Opening Reception: March 15th, 7–9pm
Alternate viewing: March 16th, 1–4pm

My fascination with obscuring faces comes from a boredom of photographic information presented to me on a daily basis on social media platforms, and through personal interactions. With an almost constant exposure to numerous faces, I get the overwhelming sense that I am just a face in a big crowd of people. I get this feeling walking down busy streets, riding the subway, and scrolling through social media, I’m just reminded of how small I am in comparison to our population as humans. When I am presented with all of this information online or in person, I fall victim to just registering a face and moving on to the next one.

By altering something I am familiar with seeing, I am attempting to draw a focus to faces that had somewhere gotten lost along the way. The people that I chose to obscure are all friends or family, ones whose faces I have grown familiar with over time. The drawn portraits exist without a background, strengthening the focus of the pieces to the faces. The obscured family photos reflect the consideration of the environment in which people exist by examining integrated figures.

This project is meant to make us think about what we’re looking at. Maybe it will get you to wonder what is happening underneath, or behind the obscurity. Perhaps it will get you to question why the faces are obscured and consider whether or not you are comfortable with them existing that way.