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“A free woman in an unfree society will be a monster.” ― Angela Carter,
The Sadeian Woman: And the Ideology of Pornography
the grotesque is always saying something that goes against the "norm". Something that "shouldn't exist. My grotesque swatch is reminiscent of every person that has told me I'm a bitch or a "monster" to men if I refuse to be polite and "feminine".
If there's one thing that this world has shown me, it's that monstrous men will prey on the hearts of kind girls. i am not the perfect version a woman is "supposed to be". i'd rather wear the mask of a monster until i feel comfortable to reveal myself.
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I want this swatch to exaggerate the aspects of bodies, especially female bodies, that are considered ugly. Of course, i also want to explore blending these concepts with animalistic traits, monstrous qualities and incorporating the uncanny.
in the novel "Nights at the circus" by angela carter, her main character Fevvers is a half-bird woman who performs in the circus as a trapeze artist. throughout the novel she continuously subverts the stereotypical female. ​
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She does this through the grotesque.
"She gorged, she stuffed herself, she spilled gravy on herself, she sucked peas from the knife; she had a gullet to match her size and table manners of the Elizabethan variety” (Carter 21). Here Fevvers is opposing a “socially conventional” style of woman, and yet is seen as impressive, beautiful, and graceful whilst also being grotesque. Carter opposes the idea of what it means to be a woman and deconstructs the idea that only past ideals of femininity can be considered beautiful and “right”
petricia piccinini
This swatch was heavily inspired by fevvers in nights at the circus.​
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i wanted the faux fur to have the same vibe as the carnivalesque style wings. And i wanted the face wipe masks and the "blood" infused faux fur to mirror the confusion and tragedy that surrounds the novel.
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