Spaghetta

2006
Photography, C-Print, 100 x 66 cm (40 x 26 in)
Dorsten, Germany

The work alludes to the iconic motif of the dinner table, in particular the “Last Supper” and other cross-cultural representations of communal eating. However, this highly symbolic staging is reinterpreted in a subversive way. Instead of religious figures or familial harmony, the banquet table shows a group of young, blonde women who look almost identical and are each eating a chicken in a deliberate, almost theatrical pose.

The staging of these women, which alludes to Western ideals of beauty and consumer culture through their homogeneous appearance and the way they eat, is both absurd and unsettling. Their perfection and uniformity reflect superficiality and the unthinking acceptance of social norms. The chicken, a simple, almost trivial food, becomes a symbol of consumption and objectification in this context, which the women consume in an almost grotesque manner.

At the head of the table sits a woman wearing a wig made of spaghetti – portrayed by yourself. This absurd gesture serves as an ironic refraction of established beauty norms. The spaghetti wig is a parody of the artificial and constructed ideals of femininity and glamor. It questions how much of what we perceive as beauty actually has substance or is just a superficial construction.

The entire work is drenched in black humor, exposing the absurdities and contradictions of the patriarchal and sexist Western society of the early 21st century. It comments on the way in which traditions, role models and ideals of beauty are passed on and uncritically adopted, while at the same time revealing the emptiness and irony of such constructions.

In its entirety, the work is a provocative satire on the cultural and societal norms that define our perceptions of gender, beauty and consumption. It challenges the viewer to question these norms and become aware of the subtle but pervasive mechanisms that shape our thoughts and actions in the modern world.