As a teenage girl, I often try to hide the disconnect I feel between how I experience myself internally versus how I present myself externally. Throughout this series, I challenged myself to step out of my comfort zone and explore the complexities of identity through themes of body image, femininity, concealment, self-perception and reflection. The work explores the difference between exposing emotion and protecting it, materializing themes that are often invisible. I used the corset as a recurring motif, symbolising both desire to shape and the pressure to conform to the ideals of femininity, while the oversized rhugby shirt is a counterpart representing freedom, comfort, and rejection of those expectations.
 

Working in black and white 35mm film allowed for a more intentional process that stripped away color to focus entirely on the human gesture and expression. The nature of film itself also mirrored the essence of the project surrounding intimacy. Alongside film, I incorporated mixed media by cutting and pasting test strips onto selected prints to reflect a sense of dysmorphia, fragmented identity, and organized chaos. Safety pins were used to create the center piece to construct a wing-like form that referenced the reinforcing physical and psychological constraint of the corset.