Identity Theft

What makes me take on multiple identities? It’s not the first time I’ve done it. Something in me wants to be different, more glamorous, more dangerous, more sexy, than the wholesome freckle-faced girl I was raised to be.
Yes, Kloe is me, but an alternative me. Is it not OK to have virtual make-believe selves that you will never know in real life?
There is a recent history of feminist artwork based on alternative identities. The above show, Identity Theft: Eleanor Antin, Lynn Hershman, Suzy Lake 1972-1978, was at the Santa Monica Museum of Art this summer. Over the course of years these three pioneering artists assumed other, often elaborate, selves. For example, Hershman’s “Other,” Roberta Breitmore, eventually had her own apartment, checking account, and dating experiences, while the artist lived her life as a wife and mother. In the same way, I can live as multiple, virtual personalities, while some only know me as their teacher and others as a soccer mom. If I only had the soccer mom identity I would probably walk into the Pacific and not look back…