primary women: RYB
A conceptual experimental project in collaboration with performer Konstantina Katsikari. What initially began as a project to honour International Women’s Day, soon evolved into a deeper exploration into the the various stages of womanhood and feminine identity.
‘Primary Women’ takes its title from the use of primary colours that portray the different phases of the same entity; the colours represent the transitional periods of a woman’s life: innocence in yellow, exploration in blue, and gaining full body ownership in red. There is also a point being made on the history of women’s rights: yellow representing the beginning of the last century, with women’s lack of civil rights and inability to vote, blue embraces the 1960’s breakthrough of the female voice at the forefront of the free love and women’s liberation movement, and finally in red, we witness the woman of today’s society, with full ownership and choice over her own body, yet still fighting everyday for these rights across the world.
While the mirror was used as a token of self-reflection and projection, the crystal creating kaleidoscopic effect was introduced to deconstruct the male gaze, by producing many layers and dimensions of the same, female body. The presence of flowers makes a direct reference to the stereotypical representation of femininity, and its positioning on the female body parts is intentionally explicit to emphasise the petalled mirror of the female sex.
The hyper-feminine approach is meant to portray the strength of the female identity, by bringing the visual narrative of the woman back to its female creator. The objective of the visual language was to celebrate the timeless female power as well as to echo the voices of the women of today.
