Cover Girls

Photography – 2018 
4 Magazines, Laser Print
27.9 × 21.6 cm / 11 × 8.5 in

4 Posters, Laser Print 
105 × 88 cm / 40 × 31 in

Performance – 2018
4 Performers, Black Clothing; 4 Posters; Public Space

In Cover Girls (2017) Nadja Verena Marcin plays upon the anonymity and animosity of said photographic avatars and the viewer’s human experience. Marcin states “Regardless that a cover girl is a construction, an anonymous avatar, an alien behind a doll face, her haven environs—albeit deadly—makes her increasingly attractive.” Transforming herself into four different cover girls from women’s magazines such as Vanity Fair, Cosmopolitan, GQ and Playboy, which the artist describes are “designed to keep women in their place, quieted, mirrored, narcissistic, and in infinite conflict with their bodies,” Marcin’s girls are superimposed with unlikely headlines. Referencing military slang and warfare, the magazine covers are spiked with the words “Bitchin’ Betty” (a descriptor of the U.S. military aircraft warning systems that frequently utilize female voices); “Chest Candy” (slang for ribbons and medals worn on a uniform); “Fashion Show” (a Naval punishment where a sailor is required to dress in each of his uniforms over several hours); “Hit the Silk” (ejecting from an aircraft and utilizing a parachute); “Latrine Queen” (an Air Force-specific term for a trainee in Basic who is in charge of cleaning bathrooms); “Oxygen Thief” (slang for someone who is useless); and “Pill Pusher” (a U.S. Navy term for a hospital corpsman). In a metaphorical sense, Marcin subverts the power of the seemingly perfect female body towards itself – making visible, the human warfare on women’s bodies.