IMPERSONATIONS

This series of drawings was inspired by a collection of masks my family created over the years for an annual Krampuslauf event—a family-friendly take on the traditional Alpine “Krampus run” held every December. We would spend months crafting our costumes. When my kids were younger, they were understandably terrified of Krampus, the goat-like figure who punishes naughty children. But they learned to overcome that fear by dressing as Krampus themselves, realizing that embodying the menace protected them from it.

This idea parallels the origins of dressing up for Halloween. While today’s costumes often lean toward anime characters or "sexy" this-and-that, the tradition began with a more primal purpose. In times when people believed the veil between worlds grew thin in autumn, they dressed as ghouls to blend in and avoid the attention of wandering spirits. This practice, found across cultures and contexts—from sacred to profane—ultimately comes down to stepping into a role and embracing the act of transformation.

Looking at those masks in my studio, I began to think about portraits of people temporarily becoming someone or something else.