Elizabeth Kelly

Color and B&W photographs on film, printed digitally.

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These photographs visually represent the tension we experience as humans to change our personality to please others. The different masks illustrate how we change aspects of our personality every day; either to please others or hide something we are ashamed of. Eventually the act of covering up makes us feel trapped inside our own true character, which others believe to be flawed. In these photographs, I used black and white, double exposures, to represent the pain and struggle caused by the idea that we need to constantly meet the expectations of many different people. The black and white images embody the feeling that you are not what you are showing the world; the feeling that there are multiple parts of you competing for a voice inside and constantly struggling. This project helped me realize, by removing the “mask” (the need to please everyone), I would gain control and come to a truer sense of self.