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Abstract
Often associated with self-revelation and truth, the self portraits of contemporary Korean photographer Nikki S. Lee sit uncomfortably within this genre and raise several interesting questions: What is a performance and what is real? If Lee is acting, what about the other participants in these snapshots? And most urgently, who is Nikki Lee? Throughout the entirety of Lees oeuvre, a body of work which includes both the Projects and Parts series as well as her upcoming film a.k.a. Nikki S. Lee, Lee destabilizes any preconceptions of a fixed self by appearing camouflaged, shifting her costume, mannerisms and props to assimilate to each subculture. This thesis, by providing a comprehensive account of Nikki Lees photography, will examine Lees fascination with the constructed nature of identity, and will consider how her work also prompts an interrogation of photography and its conventional association with truth and authenticity.