65 THIRST
Starting with a simple curiosity about people who look like him, Rick Valicenti launched into a Thirst research project that resulted in the self-published booklet, Is It Just Me?. An ad was placed in a Chicago newspaper to discover individuals who thought their faces resembled the ad’s illustration (see cover sketch). Those who responded—and there were a variety of races, ethnicities and both genders represented—completed a questionnaire, then were photographed. Everyone received $10 for time and effort.

Valicenti also wondered if his look-alikes happened to like what he likes as well. “We saw ourselves. We saw things it is easy to stop noticing. We saw our own ugly prejudices and misreadings. We saw joy and recognition. We saw, and continue to be amazed by, how much we all share,” says Valicenti. “What I learned is that expectations deny discoveries.”

The exercise turned out to be not only an exploration of shared identity, but a revealing search for common ground in human existence. Part performance art catalog, part research document, the booklet has a simple design, featuring a custom-designed font, Apex Sans, and a series of striking headshots of the participants. by Terry Lee Stone