Janine Antoni

Mom and Dad, 1994

Mother, father, makeup

Cibachrome triptych, artist's frames

24 x 20 inches (61 x 50.8 cm) (each)

Framed: 30 x 34 inches (76.2 x 86.4 cm) (each)

In Mom and Dad, Antoni learned how to use prosthetic makeup to turn her mother into her father and her father into her mother. Using the style of an anniversary photograph, they posed with every combination, except their original condition, questioning assumptions of gender roles. 

In the end, the triptych is as much about their relationship as it is about Antoni's own gender identity. Through this process, Antoni switches roles with her parents, in the sense that they made her, and in Mom and Dad she remakes them.