---
title: "Nikki S. Lee's Social Identity Projects on Instagram"
url: https://stacklist.com/card/e8ca887b-aa5a-4de2-84aa-0bffac9b6e66
source_url: "https://www.instagram.com/p/DY40BrKlEQy/?img_index=5&igsh=MTduNDk2NjF5emx5dw=="
stack: https://stacklist.com/stack/ea8cecc0-6f77-41b1-ab16-2ad6ce967d84
summary: "Nikki S. Lee's 'Projects' series (1997-2001) documents her immersion into diverse social groups and subcultures across the United States, where she transformed her identity through clothing, makeup, and behavior before being photographed by friends or strangers. Through direct participation in communities like punks, yuppies, and skaters, Lee blurred the boundaries between photography and performance art while questioning authenticity, belonging, and cultural stereotypes."
tags: "nikki-s-lee, performance-art, identity-transformation, photography, subcultures, contemporary-art, social-commentary"
key_entities: "Nikki S. Lee (person), Projects (concept), performance art (concept), identity transformation (concept), United States (location), contemporary100 (organization), Projects series (1997-2001) (event)"
classification: "analysis"
content_hash: "sha256:c4cb72d7deafd9211a1174afb2ffa9065d0c6f3189c3c519439e28263d8248dd"
acp_version: "0.2"
token_counts_approximate: 502
visibility: public
agent_accessible: true
status: "final"
---

# Nikki S. Lee's Social Identity Projects on Instagram

CONTEMPORARY100 on Instagram: "For weeks or months at a time between 1997 and 2001, artist Nikki S. Lee immersed herself within different social groups and subcultures across the United States before photographing the results for her series ‘Projects.’ The images were typically taken casually by friends or strangers, giving them the feeling of ordinary snapshots rather than staged works of art.

Through changes in clothing, makeup, hairstyle, body language, and social behavior, Lee transformed herself into these different identities, including punks, yuppies, senior citizens, skaters, tourists, and strippers.

Rather than observing these communities from a distance, Lee participated in them directly, blurring the boundaries between photography and performance art while raising larger questions around authenticity, belonging, and cultural stereotypes.

Curated by @contemporary100 
cc: @t.archivist" — 142K likes, 1,353 comments - contemporary100 on May 28, 2026: "For weeks or months at a time between 1997 and 2001, artist Nikki S. Lee immersed herself within different social groups and subcultures across the United States before photographing the results for her series ‘Projects.’ The images were typically taken casually by friends or strangers, giving them the feeling of ordinary snapshots rather than staged works of art.

Through changes in clothing, makeup, hairstyle, body language, and social behavior, Lee transformed herself into these different identities, including punks, yuppies, senior citizens, skaters, tourists, and strippers.

Rather than observing these communities from a distance, Lee participated in them directly, blurring the boundaries between photography and performance art while raising larger questions around authenticity, belonging, and cultural stereotypes.

Curated by @contemporary100 
cc: @t.archivist".  — https://www.instagram.com/p/DY40BrKlEQy/?img_index=5&igsh=MTduNDk2NjF5emx5dw==