2023, steel welded frame, nylon stockings, used pillow, stuffing, thread, yarn, paper mache, synthetic clay, paint, wig, false eyelashes, artist’s clothes, artist’s mother’s shoes, 127 x 51 x 27 cm
Examining expressions of feminine power and their consistent dismissal or mischaracterisation, through the manipulation of aesthetics of cuteness and the uncanny. I used cuteness to parallel normative patriarchal expectations of passivity and ‘appealing powerlessness’ through their shared imposition of assumed power dynamics, vulnerability and weakness.
Throughout this body of work, I used dolls and dislocated, or disembodied representations of the body to exemplify this crossover of the cute and the uncanny. Dolls represent the aesthetic of the cute due to their stylised mimesis of children and grounding in girlhood. By dislocating them from their implications of carefree childhood joy and instead relating them to anger, aggression and strength I draw attention to, and overturn the expectation of passivity.
