Rebecca
Drolen

Factory

Factory presents a space where the female body is increased as a means of defense and empowerment through physicality. Hair, nails, teeth, and weight are added to the body, rather than managed or re­moved. The sets are built to juxtapose the flesh and vulnerability of the figures with textured, repurposed materials. The spaces appear to be in the state of being built up and changed, just as the body itself is being re-formed and re-identified. The images address the surreal nature of the body at large, constructed appearances, and how our physicality can communicate with others. While the work humorously points at the desperation of how women's bodies are managed and adjusted, it also imagines how multiple female bodies can work together to build each other up.

I question if patriarchal ideas can be dismantled and power can be regained once a body is no longer required to be smaller, hairless, and inherently vulnerable. The work uses photographs, looped video, and small sculptures to address notions of how the female body can be emboldened, rather than reduced.