‘Part 14’, Nikki S. Lee (2002)

Nikki S. Lee’s photograph, ‘Part 14’ depicts the artist in the backseat of a car, with a man’s arm around her, his hand resting on her shoulder. The woman’s body language, facing away from her companion, and her blank, withdrawn expression reveal a degree of hostility held towards the unseen man.

The image is one of a series of works, ‘Parts’, in which the artist is depicted in an interaction with another person, cropped out of the image, indicated by the partial white border that runs around three sides of the image. As the title suggests, we may only be glimpsing a ‘part’ of a larger image from which the other person has been cut out of – as if to suggest that the relationship has ended, the couple has broken up and the former partner has been removed from the original photos.

As in her series, ‘Projects’, Lee herself dons disguises in order to explore notions of identity in a performative approach. Similarly in this work, Lee herself poses as the subject of the photograph, playing the woman in question.