* TRIIIBE: Same Difference (Fitchburg Art Museum)

 

 
February 7 - June 5, 2016                                           
Opening Reception: February 7, 1:00 - 3:00 pm

Fueled by a common interest in identity, performance artists Alicia, Kelly, and Sara Casilio (identical triplet sisters) and National Geographic 
photographer Cary Wolinsky joined forces in 2006 to form TRIIIBE - an artistic collective that often expands to include family, friends, and 
fellow artists.  TRIIIBE's painstakingly staged photographs, performances, and videos play up the sameness of the sisters to provoke cultural 
conversations about gender, equality, and difference, while traversing hot-button social and political issues.  Behind each TRIIIBE endeavor is 
a clever, satirical, and egalitarian exchange of ideas and an elaborate cluster of costumes, wigs, props, and make-up.

TRIIIBE: same difference begins by welcoming FAM visitors into a fantastical, faux dressing room, awash in the actual clothing and 
accessories worn by the Casilios to bend gender and slip through stereotype.  The photographs visitors will see in FAM's main galleries are 
the result of countless hours of sketching, planning, costume changing, and fine-tuning by all members of the group, collectively.  Wolinsky is 
an integral part of this creative process and in his hands the camera, too, becomes a collaborator, rather than just a documentary tool.  Every 
shot, every tableau is shaped by TRIIIBE with and through the camera's lens.  Wolinsky and the sisters then scrutinize hundreds of possible 
images, poses, and variations before reaching consensus about the final photo to print.  This labored, democratic approach results in unique
conceptual photographs that are highly theatrical, stylized, forceful, and refined.

FAM is honored to share TRIIIBE: same difference with our audiences and grateful to the artists and Arlette Kayafas of Gallery Kayafas in 
Boston, MA for making this show possible.

TRIIIBE: same difference is organized by Curator Mary M. Tinti and Koch Curatorial Fellow Emily M. Mazzola and has been supported by a 
grant from the Artist's Resource Trust.