Under my Skin
A new, stronger position for women in society
The friendship between women is freeing itself from its traditionally confined position: family ties, religion and male sexual behaviour have kept women submissive or invisible. Historically, women were defined by their family contexts or the status of their husbands. Where men have met outside of the house for centuries, women worldwide can now be inspired by other women via social media. Women now find each other on the basis of their shared interests, not because of their familial or marital context. Through mutual contact and friendships women may now be better able to define their own identities. These friendships – and in their wake, women’s networks – provide the basis for a new, stronger position for women in society.
Footprints of friendship
For Under My Skin, Caroline used parchment, the primordial carrier of communication. Parchment holds our DNA, the oldest phenomenon that strongly defines one’s identity. Many a human skin nowadays holds tattoos as a way of depicting identity. Caroline’s tattoos refer to societal phenomena that facilitate or threaten female friendship. The sand under the dresses represents time, in which friendships leave their footprints. The poem by Anaïs Nin at the rear of the dresses symbolises the strength and the poetry that come with friendship; the beauty of the unspoken.
Under my Skin – Parchment, sand – 4 x 7 x 3 m
Poem by Anaïs Nin (detail)
