Many women are confronted almost daily with contradictory expectations, shocking comments, unwanted advice and even harassment. Women are shoehorned into different roles as if they have to be several different people at the same time in order to fulfil various requirements. This manifests itself on the outside and inside, and it seems that women – as a result of such constant and absurd transformations – partly do not know who they are anymore. This project uncovers this basic, underlying feeling through photographic, cosmetic and stylistic means. The self-portraits become a representation of emotions and an outer expression of an inner feeling. An absurd metamorphosis which aims to depict the rigid and forceful transformations of women and create a better understanding of the processes involved. It is a reaction to comments and experiences offered by friends, acquaintances, anonymous women, and myself.
The topicality of the subject, combined with a personally informed approach, convinced the jury, as did the coherent presentation, staging, production and implementation of the project. Shocking comments are skilfully analysed and translated into social codes. Professionally executed and dramaturgically divided from the comments, these photographs are presented in an intelligently edited format in a high-quality publication.
Website: leamichaud.ch
