Everyday we wake up and before we step out to face the day we ask ourselves “what should I wear today?” Most think of this in relation to our external appearance not realising that deep down inside what we’re really asking is not what clothes we should put on, not what shoes we should wear or what jewellery or makeup we should choose to adorn ourselves but rather what façade, what persona, what guise we should wear and how we should present ourselves to the world each and every single day.
As women we bear the burden of high expectations from society. We are programmed to aim to please and conform to what society defines as woman, womanly, womanhood.
We tend to always put on a brave face burying our true feelings and emotions in a pile deep within our souls. Sometimes we hide behind clothes and make up and external projections of who we we are told we should be.
We smile even when we are hurting, we laugh even when we are dying, we keep our head up even when we are sinking. We believe we have to be strong, to always have it all together.
This body of work encourages women to reject those projections, tear down the walls they have built, peel off the façades and reveal what truly lies within, embracing the beauty of womanhood with all it’s kinks and blemishes.
It aims to push women to open up, speak out and rise together against the obstacles we face, the challenges that society, culture, traditions and religions have placed in our path, the pressures that tear at us from inside out and by so doing we initiate a healing both individual and collective.
It is known that the woman is the life giver, the one who brings forth, the preserver of the human race. It is she who binds the society and keeps it all together amidst peace and war, flourish and famine. Therefore, to heal and uplift the woman is to heal and uplift the society.
*While shooting this project, all the women -each with their own story- were asked to reflect on a single day in the recent past and conjure up all the circumstances and emotions they felt in that single day, re-enacting them through a pose.
