Alia Leonardi, Moi, a girl
“Moi, a girl” showcases the interplay of semantics and imagery on social media, in doing so highlighting the platforms’ transformative power in shaping contemporary gender expressions. This project seeks to explore gender performativity within digital and meme culture. The girls online fight against scrutinisation, can online identity and the aesthetic of the “coquette/silly girls” in fact be seen as as strategy against gender norms and societal expectations? Despite the capitalist nature of social media, there is potential for feminist discourses and resistance to organise on such platforms against patriarchal structures. What if endless doomscrolling was an act of resistance?
Drawing on the “Theory of the Young Girl” by Tiqqun, cyberfeminism and postmodernist frameworks are used to reappropriate an identity constructed by consumerist culture and the male gaze. The girls of the internet act as subversive figures, with the idea that if the space exists, it should be taken over or transformed.
In this subversive exploration, stereotypically feminine craft techniques like embroidery and textiles are employed to emphasise the engagement of the work. The installation manifests as a network of objects, visuals, and texts, all interwoven to reflect the interconnected reality of the girl’s online existence and its impact on the physical world but also as a refusal to be completely perceived by an outsider audience.
this one’s for the girls and the gays <3
Opening and Open Studio Alia Leonardi
Date: 15 August 2024
Schedule:
Location: FUTURES Hub, Isaac Titsinghkade 6, 1018 LL Amsterdam
