Nikki S. Lee
b. 1970, Kye-Chang, Korea
The Ohio Project (7), 1999
Chromogenic print
Edition of 5 (3/5)
Collection of Leslie Tonkonow

Through performance and photography, Nikki S. Lee’s work examines the constructed nature of identity. In Projects (1997–2001), created during her graduate studies at New York University, Lee immersed herself in a range of American subcultures and social groups—punks, tourists, lesbians, club kids, drag queens, and senior citizens. Adopting their attire, makeup, gestures, and body language for extended periods, she documented her transformations in situ with compact auto-focus cameras.

In The Ohio Project, part of this series, Lee integrates into a blue-collar Midwestern household, surrounded by processed snacks, pleated lace curtains, and a Confederate flag. By fluidly transitioning her appearance, role, and demeanor, Lee questions essentialist assumptions undergirding discourses on assimilation, appropriation, identity, and social behavior.