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The Duty of Woman’s Mane

2021
SRB • 36min
„The Duty of Woman‘s Mane“ is a conceptual performance in the original duration of two and a half hours, which is compiled in a 36-minute video installation presenting a „prison“ in which a woman finds herself due to stereotypical roles imposed on her by the society.

Female hair is one of the central symbols of femininity, intimacy, and secrecy. As such, it is woven into Serbian culture also. Hair represents personality, intimacy, desire, lust, etc. Our grandmothers combed it for hours before going to bed, hiding it from view, and especially from the touch of other people, men to whom they „do not belong“.

This work was created in collaboration by three female artists: Jelena Pavlovic, Ana Miladinovic and Kristina Jovanovic. Visual artist Jelena Pavlovic had the desire to show the position of the women in society and their struggle in the system that is against her through a collective video installation. The initial inspiration was a sketch by Ana Miladinovic for a mixed-media artwork. This drawing consists of a woman‘s scattered hair being pulled by different hands while destroying her power to make independent decisions. Based on that, this collaboration was born. They elaborated this concept together and included Kristina Jovanovic – the young actress who encounters this kind of pressure because of her work and the role assigned by society to all women by birth.

The video installation was recorded with three iPhones to emphasize the impact of technology on our psyche, making it is easier for us to become just voyeurs and for the screen to serve as a kind of protection. That automated recording method was chosen to create an impression of privacy among the participants and provoke them to show and do those things that would otherwise be unacceptable. The restriction they had was that they were not allowed to communicate in any way other than by touch. They could not see her face while interacting with her, and she could not see their faces either. The selection of participants consisted of people who are close to her and people she had not met before. Unknown participants were selected to represent different categories of the population. Each participant had a limited time of 6 minutes and free will to stop interacting earlier.