Kayleah Aldrich: THE DEBUT

Opening 07.11.25, 7 pm

THE DEBUT
An exhibition featuring work by Kayleah Aldrich

Opening July 11th 7-10pm
BICA School Project Space

“This body of work utilizes performance to explore the relationship between the self as object and the experience of the viewer/consumer in a digital-escapist, hyper-reality, image-focused modern world. I use familiar feminine signifying props of blonde hair, tiaras, makeup, and dresses, while placing them in a warped, almost threatening crafted world, confronting the connection between the camera, viewer, and performer. Through video and photographs, I present a blonde, smiling female persona attempting to get it just right with strained poses, homemade masks, and increasingly confrontational musings, exploring what disgusts us, pleases us, and scares us. 

I’m interested in how both anger and fear bubble and simmer, and what things look like just before a breaking point. Pulling inspiration from horror tropes of The Monstrous Feminine and Coming of Rage, paired with traditional American values of beauty and gender, this work explores finding the sweet spot of something humorous, off-putting, and quite pathetic. Using photography and video, I use the camera to speak directly to the viewer, confronting ideas of the gaze, voyeurism, and consumption of the self. The masks are made with typical household materials - cardboard, tissue paper, glue - to materialize the literal crafting of the self in a way that’s manufactured, distorting a true representation. The use of pink and red throughout the work references an obvious feminine palette to a point where the color becomes potentially overwhelming and more so violent than seductive and sweet. 

Adorning myself with a wig, makeup, and a dress, I transform into a character within a constructed, surreal setting, stepping into a manifestation of an object come to life with her sense of self being ingrained with American beauty, gender, and power dynamics- resulting in somewhat of a monster, who is very interested in who’s watching her.”  — Kayleah Aldrich