Notions of otherness – the ‘Alien’ – are subverted through the saturation of Western iconography adorning these images. Exploring how developing countries engage with the Western world, and vice versa, Albert interrogates imagined and constructed understandings of otherness. Situating himself as a visitor, Albert engages local tradition, personal narrative, and collectively relatable symbolism, to ask – who is the Alien here?

Tony Albert’s series Crop Circles of Yogya was developed during a residency at Cemeti Art House, Yogyakarta in 2016. Albert took portraits of Yogyakarta locals wearing farmer’s conical hats which he had turned into wearable UFOs. The photographs were then hand embellished with stickers of pop culture symbolism.