Alter Ego

If given the opportunity to be anything they want most people would choose anyone but themselves. The childhood realms of playful fantasy become adult refuges and obsessions that subvert reality in the name of escapism. Whether through religious, sartorial, psychedelic, or artistic devices, every culture has expressed this paradox in a multitude of ways. When a kabuki actor applies his make-up or a lucha wrestler his mask, a sense of other-ness is conferred upon them. They are no longer what you perceived them to be. They are exactly, and only, what they conceive for themselves. This is the true power of self-transformation. The medical student suddenly becomes the warmongering soldier. The computer salesman becomes the medieval knight. The ballet dancer morphs into a sepulchral Goth. We are often our most honest when we are acting not as ourselves, when our inner lives are outwardly manifested. Then the conceit becomes, if only for a night, concrete. Inhibitions are lost, imaginations reign unchecked, and worldly impositions are ignored. When we return to our more mundane, quotidian roles the sense of release, of redemption, remains. It is ours to wear, like a mask.

Text by Michael Dougherty.

Simone Donati

Alter Ego

Contacts

Stay in touch