Impostors ~ The Curly Haired Men Series
The Impostors Series has taken several different forms; installation, video, performance and photography. It’s main characteristic is in the ‘impostorship’ of someone well known. In the installation works, the viewer is invited to dress-up as the celebrity/television character or artist and perform as them. But in all cases, there are elements that highlight the fact the the participant is an ‘impostor’, either through gender, race or poor quality wigs.
In this series of photographs, Jessica Voorsanger, having been diagnosed with cancer, used her illness as a strength. In the midst of her chemotherapy treatment she continued to explore identity and gender politics in The Impostor Series by creating a series of photographs of herself as famous bald men. When her hair started to grow back – it came back curly (which was new for her). Her response to this new step in the process of recovering from her illness, and wanting to reclaim herself – created a series of photographs of herself as Curly Haired Men. The men included in the grouping are: Ronald McDonald, Adam Ant, Starsky (from Starsky & Hutch), Michael Landon (from The Little House on the Prairie), Art Garfunkel, Bob Dylan and Tom Selleck.
