UNEASE (An Eight Step Programme)

To the women from UNEASE- thank You
Lisa Marie, Ellen, Sabrina, and Annalisa

This project examines the idea of the uncomfortable, with direct reference to the female subject – her body, her societal roles, and the politics of her place within the home.

The satirical eight steps to normalcy - or eight steps to being a natural or ideal woman -emotively depicts the psychological experience of several nameless female subjects, who try to fit themselves into accepted roles that they do not desire. The foundations of gender perception and conformity are challenged through the grey, ambivalent and sometimes antagonistic representations of female tropes: The Wife, The Slut, The Mother to be, and The Girl.

The motif of a measuring tape recurs throughout the video, deconstructing the act of defining. This video presents a platform from which to re-think former myths and accepted "truths" about what being a woman represents.

Although feminist activism has maneuvered these concerns to the forefront, female angst is still stigmatized as "bitterness", rather than seen as a real expression of circumstance, and a call to alleviate inequity.

Unease gives glimpses into the problematic side of the female gender structure, such as eating disorders, notions of chastity and motherhood, the demonization of women's sexuality as a mechanism for control, and some women's own acceptance or dependencies of these boundaries.

'Unease' is a video installation that screened as part of 'Visibly Absent' - a series of exhibitions hosted by 'GALVANIZE in Trinidad September to October 2006. Projected in a very dark room, in a small concrete box, it was the first art project to be screened at the Alice Yard Space.