To Bend and To Shape
The photographs and videos in To Bend & To Shape make connections between the representation of women’s bodies in histories of the witch hunts, folk tales, and in contemporary cultural myths of femininity. The project was inspired by historian Silvia Federici’s framing of the witch hunts (which occurred over several centuries in Europe and its colonies) as a genocide against women, as well as intersecting identities also considered as ‘other’ such as the poor, racialized, and disabled. Federici argues that the transition to capitalism was only possible through the destruction of women’s power, confining their role to the home and the reproduction and care of the workers.
In witch lore and folktales women’s bodies have magical properties: they can fly, transform their appearance, or use their hair to sink ships. The title To Bend & To Shape references how the word ‘witch’ comes from the root word ‘wic’ meaning to bend or shape ¬— materials, reality or consciousness. In reality women’s bodies also morph and shift, through the stages of life and in the processing of bringing life into the world. And contemporary beauty standards tell us to shape, control and transform ourselves in particular ways. Narrow cultural perspectives on femininity or beauty can also be bent and shaped, in ways that empower us.