"Women's body hair removal is strongly normative within contemporary Western culture. Although often trivialised, (...) the hairlessness norm powerfully endorses the assumption that a woman's body is unacceptable if unaltered; its very normativity points to a socio-cultural presumption that hairlessness is the appropriate condition for the feminine body."
"Gender and body hair: constructing the feminine woman", abstract extract
From my personal experience, this fact is even more true in Middle-Eastern culture, would it also be for hygienic or religious reasons.
The two pieces I am presenting for
ICareALot were especially made to take part in the debate about Middle East, from a post-feminist point of view. They are both dedicated to the Iranian photographer
Mehraneh Atashi who had just been arrested around the same time when I came across the Icarealot call for submission. The two necklaces were made thinking of the women who could wear them as a passive sign of rebellion against a certain male abuse of power. As the two pieces come as beautiful objects to wear and be proud of, my point here is not to reject the depilation practice but to remind us that this should be chosen as a free act, rather than an act of submission to the male desire, to the religion, culture or to simply the weight of tradition. More internationally, the pieces were made to draw awareness on the fact that we are all still under the pressure of culturally accepted stereotypes about women.
“Sacrificial postiche”
Materials: human hair, red copper chain and findings
Dimensions: chain length : 41 cm- hair legth : 21 cm
“Discrete rebellion”
Materials: human hair of friends, daughter and myself, chain
Dimensions: chain length : 18 cm- hair legth : 22 cm
