Romy Yedidia Explores The Body As Contested Space
- Name
- Romy Yedidia
- Project
- Preserve x 186
- Images
- Romy Yedidia
- Words
- Rosie Flanagan
We may be the inheritors of third wave feminism, but in the 21st-century a woman’s body remains contested space. Women stand bombarded by concepts of the perfect figure, and for whose benefit? In Romy Yedidia’s ‘Preserve x 186’, she takes this concept of perception and ownership and casts it as part of a performative sculpture series using her own body.
“Everyday I stumble upon close-up images of ‘perfect’ female body parts; perky, smooth, sculpted objects,” Yedidia explains. “Each of these fragments looks like it was cast into a silky smooth mold.” Drawing from this concept of the casting perfection, Yedidia has created a body of work that consists of floating body parts. No cast is of the body as a whole. Nor are the pieces are not joined together to create a full figure. Instead, in this performative series, you witness the jarring dislocation the artist feels between herself and her body.“‘Preserve x 186’ is my response to… perpetual brainwash”, Yedidia explains. Both process and performance of the casting was an attempt to materialize the pain caused by the constant objectification of women, and the “expectation of them to remain silent.”
All images © Kateryna Snizhko and Romy Yedidia
