Postage Stamp Something To Write Home about
Collaboration with Prutha Raithatha
Format: Public performance
Photo documentation: Alison Wynn
Venue: Flux Factory
Year: 2011
Visible pubic hair on women is widely disapproved of culturally, often considered embarrassing and routinely removed, though some remove hair that isn't even publicly exposed, for aesthetic or other reasons. This is typically a private process, carried out in a back room of a salon, with the end result intended to read as more appealing in public settings such as a beach, a pool, or a bedroom. Postage stamp is one of the popular styles of Brazilian waxing, a more controversial method than other forms of hair removal since it includes epilation of the pubic hair around the labia. Done with warm wax, it can be physically painful during and after, and carries health risks, including infection, if not performed properly on someone with a weakened immune system.
In this public waxing performance between the artist and Prutha Raithatha, the audience is free to walk around, stand, sit comfortably, and enjoy refreshments. By staging what looks, on its surface, like torture, the work exposes the process behind what is conventionally understood as beauty.
Video
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