Project Concept
This project reflects on the phenomenon of some young Russian women choosing, in recent years, to detach from the system that dictates how they should live and when they should mature. These young women are becoming more infantile—they do not strive to grow up according to the societal frameworks and maintain a directness and naiveté. They seek to offload the responsibility of making serious decisions, demonstrating naïve, childlike behavior in order to evade established social norms. Unconsciously, they elevate their vulnerabilities to the absolute and strive to emphasize their tactic of interacting with the world, including in their external appearance.
In their daily lives, there is a prevalence of pink, which becomes an attribute of this detachment. Color transcends being a mere visual sign—it becomes a reaction to the endless demands placed upon a young woman who has just crossed the threshold of adulthood. Pink constructs a barrier between the aggressive and rigid world that demands maturity, seriousness, self-awareness, and a realistic outlook on life, and it allows one to immerse oneself in a world that is naive and carefree.
The project demonstrates how young women evade the demands of the «real» world by representing themselves through the color pink—the color of hyperfemininity and infantilism. The more superficial and naive a young woman is perceived to be, the fewer demands are placed upon her.
The project includes an artist’s book, which manifests a refusal to submit to the demands of adulthood, and a video.
Book Concept
In the project «Can I Just Not Decide Anything?», the phenomenon is discussed of how young women, exhausted by the demands placed on their behavior, interests, and priorities, fall into escapism and immerse themselves in their own rosy world. They do not express active protest against societal standards, nor do they accept them.In this manifesto book, slogans from a girl running away from a reality full of demands placed upon her—into a world filled with her childhood memories, dreams, and freedom from having to make serious decisions—are wrapped in a vivid, pink aesthetic. Her passive protest and distancing from imposed standards in the book take the form of active resistance, while the girl strives to maintain her identity and consciously remain infantile and carefree.
Video Concept
Video manifesto wherein the protagonist—representing the examined strategy of representation—conveys her disagreement with the frames imposed upon her in a naively hyperfeminine guise. The young woman, clad entirely in pink against a pink background, delivers her slogans on camera. She deliberately adopts affected mannerisms, speaks in a higher register, and beams kindly at the viewer. If one doesn’t pay close attention, she might appear to be flirtatious, but upon closer listening, it becomes clear that her pronouncements contradict the way she delivers them.
Exhibition Sketch
Exhibition Sketch: «Can I Not Decide Anything?»
