With her works, Lenča Malec builds a mythology that is created around her body. As the protagonist of the works, she positions herself in the world with humorous images of internalized naivety and trust in society’s view of her appearance and the expectations for the role she has been assigned.
In the collision between the aesthetics of American suburban life and the Y2K aesthetics of pop culture glitz, the author seeks a meeting point between the image of the “good wife” and its (apparent) opposite, the sexy and self-confident woman, often labelled with the word “bimbo” in the past. The term, which was used in pop culture to describe a frivolous, intellectually limited, but conventionally beautiful woman, has been adopted in recent years by some modern feminists and attributed to women who are not afraid to show their femininity, sex appeal and self-respect. With the emergence of “bimbo culture” on social networks, the question arises whether it is an act of emancipation or an unfortunate attempt to demand equality between the sexes. Is it even possible to expect an emancipated view of a woman’s body and her social role, if it appears to meet the demands of male fantasy and the entrenched patriarchal view of society? The author answers the question from a distinctly personal and vulnerable position, looking back at the history of the representation of women in art and pop culture.
Lenča Malec (1997) is a master’s student in painting at the Ljubljana Academy of Fine Arts and Design, where she previously also graduated. In her work, she deals with the difficult-to-determine relationship between erotica and pornography, as well as her position in a patriarchal society, the symptom of which is the internalisation of the male gaze on various aspects of the perception of the opposite sex. She has participated in several group exhibitions in Slovenia, among others in the Hotel Tresor gallery space, the DobraVaga Gallery and the Krpan Gallery in Cerknica.
Curator: Maša Knapič
FREE ENTRY
8. 3. – 26. 3. 2023 (Kamera)
