Hide and Seek - Alessandra Rinaudo's Portfolio

'Hyde and Seek n.1'

'Hyde and Seek n.2'

'Hyde and Seek n.3'

'Hyde and Seek n.4'

'Hyde and Seek n.5'

'Hyde and Seek n.6'

'Hyde and Seek n.7'

'Hyde and Seek n.8'

'Hyde and Seek n.9'

'Hyde and Seek n.10'

'Hyde and Seek n.11'

'Hyde and Seek n.12'

'Hyde and Seek n.13'

'Hyde and Seek n.14'

'Hyde and Seek n.15'

'Hyde and Seek n.16'

'Hyde and Seek n.17'

'Hyde and Seek n.18'

'Hyde and Seek n.19'

'Hyde and Seek n.20'

'Hyde and Seek n.21'

'Hyde and Seek n.22'

'Hyde and Seek n.23'

'Hyde and Seek n.24'

'Hyde and Seek n.25'

'Hyde and Seek n.26'

'Hyde and Seek n.27'

'Hyde and Seek n.29'

'Hyde and Seek n.31'

'Hyde and Seek n.32'

'Hyde and Seek n.33'

'Hyde and Seek n.34'

'Hyde and Seek n.35'

'Hyde and Seek n.36'

'Hyde and Seek n.37'

'Hyde and Seek n.38'

Hide and Seek, 2014 - 2019

Project statement:

Whilst working on a project about the relationship with my mother, I came to explore at the same time my childhood. The result was this body of work called ‘Hide and Seek’, which I developed in 5 years time. The title refers to one of the most popular children’s game, where one hides and the other goes to find her/him. It also relates to what in popular psychology is called the ‘Inner Child’ or the ‘Child Within’: the sum of emotional memories and feelings that reside deep inside us that have formed before puberty. It is with us at all times and shows up here and there behind certain desires and actions, without us really being conscious of their presence. In cases of troubled childhood, the inner child has probably been repressed causing distress in the adult emotional life and it will need attention.

Using a tension between hiding and revealing, in this body of work I perform memories and sensations I have about my childhood states, feelings and spaces. I confront myself with elements such as child’s dresses, toys and home settings.

The result is a ‘Child Within’ that tries to come out and show up through:

a girl who wears a dress she does not fit anymore,

a girl who hides and shows herself,

a girl who is vanishing in her childhood house,

a girl who is absent among objects she feels familiar and unfamiliar with at the same time.

A girl who take portraits of herself with children toys.

In the last section, wearing a wedding dress and doubling herself, the girl takes care of the other part of her that needs care, complicity, compassion and love.

Starting from my personal journey and through different stylistic approaches, (performative, documentary and staged photography) I question whether the photographic medium can help to understand one’s ambivalent feelings and identity, even when we feel we have a memory of a good childhood.