Factory by Rebecca Drolen

Issue 122

Factory presents a space where the female body is increased, altered or reoriented as a means of defense and empowerment through physicality. Hair, nails, teeth, and weight are added to the figures, rather than managed, made smaller, or removed. The sets are built to support narratives that address the concerns of the female body in contemporary culture - juxtaposing the flesh and vulnerability of the figures with textured, repurposed materials formed to exist as a third space to support a new sense of self and relationship to others. These spaces appear to be in the state of being built up and changed, just as the body itself is being re-formed and re-identified. The cyclical, perpetual movement of looped videos temper the work with the absurdity involved in the ongoing rituals of body management. The work locates the female body as a political space as well as a surreal space – one with unmeasured illogics and double standards – a peculiar and limiting, yet familiar ground for common experience. Much like a shaved animal would be vulnerable in the wild, I attempt to consider how the body itself can be increased as a means of protection within a society where women remain vulnerable to male power.

Rebecca Drolen lives and works in Fayetteville, AR. 
To view more of Rebecca’s work, please visit her website.