Females Formed

Females Formed

Bean bag installation

2008

One of the sources of sadness for women is an identity crisis. Tradition is powerful and dictates many aspects of our lives. Tradition and culture make particular demands on how women live their lives, from their clothes to their mobility, careers, and their role as wives, mothers and caregivers. Women act by more female roles demanded of them.

Alongside this traditional part of society, women are also inclined by the advantages of modern life and, consequently, expand, change, and, at times, confuse the image that women have of themselves vis a vis that everyone else demands.

The feeling of emptiness and conflict in women's everyday lives creates a sense of frustration and dissatisfaction about being only what others demand of them and not what they desire.

My artwork suggests how women are caught within the web of expectations imposed on them by tradition, family and society. I am attempting to show how women struggle to find their inner identity while succumbing to the roles and expectations of strong family ties and cultural pulls. The artworks may appear humorous. However, they demonstrate that women are shaped, re-shaped and mutilated by the people who sit on them and how malleable they are, even though it may overwhelm them.

Installation is an interactive work with the audience. There are four bean bags with a woman's face printed on each (something like the Russian Babushka dolls). It is very simple and minimalist, and the audience can sit on them. The pressure, weight and heaviness of sitters will change the figure of the faces of these women, elaborating the above statement.