Undergraduate BFA Thesis Show - Girlhood Testimonies

My thesis project was my attempt to cover the transitioning experience of a girl to woman. Going through that experience myself, I knew how much discomfort comes with that transition. It is about each woman-to-be deciding on the ideas she was taught as a girl that she will keep, which she will be in constant tension with, and which she will decide no longer serve her. A girl has the weight of societal pressures on her – she is objectified, her mistakes are watched closely, her body often works as a weapon against her. As teens, many girls choose to become smaller versions of themselves, to hide, to be as unnoticeable as possible as they go through this painful and confusing growth process. Becoming a woman is about finding the confidence to show up as your true self without the need to perform or appeal to others. It is gaining comfort in your own skin, without feeling the need to uphold a version of you that others tell you to be. 

As a photographer, I wanted to take the chance to express those emotions in photos of myself and my friends. Those become the pieces both installed on the wall and in my book. 

As a designer, I wanted to create an installation that seamlessly connected my interests in the same space. I designed a book for which I collected entry responses of other girls about their personal experiences, and divided them into six different sections: to err is human, crossing boundaries, owning my pain, intrinsic trust, in tune with myself, and alone together.

My decision was to make my space feel like a girl's room, a space that has been a safe haven for me throughout the years, where I was free to grow and explore myself. I wanted it to feel intimate, hence why the viewers were also welcomed to sit on the bed as they flip through my diary-looking book placed on top of it.