l comprehensively analyzed myself as being the “other’ in order to understand and identify its characteristics. Throughout my life, undeniably, I had been subjected to various social, cultural, religious, mental, physical and emotional categorizations; all based on the gaze with a certain gender power.
In this recent project, the female mannequin could be considered as the ‘other’ – a representation of my being. The object is filled with metal pins which served as a tool, which enabled me to manipulate my personal spontaneous emotional reactions: it received my punctuated line of brainwaves, contained the pins which were representative of a particular thought cycle, conveyed how my internal reactions looked like in a physical state, and conditioned the evolution of my mental and emotional sensibilities. It had an ability to act as commentary on the projection of unsettling representation of a woman as the ‘other’.
The idea of covering the entire mannequin was to create a sense of submission and defense; a defense that becomes also an instrument that l play. The video constitutes of overlying, intersecting, coinciding, rotational visuals of the photographs of the mannequin itself which depicts almost an anarchic state of mind – a response to the imposition factors from the society. Arguably, the perception of the body or the ‘other’ self could be determined by those who see it, question it or relate with it.
The sound piece was produced by brushing various objects against the pins which represented the constant noise caused by the inflicting judgments and evaluations. It becomes an anarchic state of mind.
