In collaboration with Iva Kontic
Awards won:
Biennale Giovani Monza Award (winner), 2017
She Under the Plumtree is a personal project that explores the definition of femininity and the construction of female identity in the Western Balkans. It focuses on the over-sexualized and sexist representations of women and gender relations within Pop-Folk music. The genre dominates the current musical and cultural scene of the region and Serbia in particular, where the music originates from. Being the local mainstream, the Serbian Pop-Folk repertory portrays women according to the patriarchal tradition it emerged in, in which men are mostly dominant and women are reduced to stereotypes. Songs and video-clips still reflect these clichés: half-naked women wearing excessive make-up and men who sing about the triumph of virility are not uncommon.
In She Under the Plumtree Iva Kontic and I try to play with and subvert the standardized male and female representation as put forward in the Serbian Pop-Folk “patrimony”. Several songs are chosen to show the reduced and objectified female in this musical tradition. The project is composed of several parts: a series of photographs, a book, a performance and a soundtrack. They can function as independent works or be combined in a mixed-media installation.
The project is composed of several parts: a series of photographs, a book, a performance and a soundtrack. They can function as independent works or be combined in a mixed-media installation.
She Under the Plum Tree at Bienniale Giovani Monza, June 2017