WIP [FOTZEPOLITICS] developed over the long lockdown of 2020-21, drawing inspiration from vintage dress patterns, radical painting, makeup compacts, protest signs, and the DIY attitude of the 90s RIOT GRRRLS. Playing around my studio in reconstructed hand-painted garments, silhouettes and vignettes emerged in costume drama photo sessions staged and styled with my teenage daughter.

 

This collective body of work borrows its title from a song by Cocteau Twins, opening with the lyrics “My dreams are low, they are sick and must be addressed, they are young girls’ dreams.” As defined in the Cocteau Twins glossary “Fotzepolitic” is: 1 n. [Germanic, vulgar] Literally “cunt politics” 2. Using, exhibiting, or proceeding from policy; Judicious. 3. Crafty; cunning. 

 

A crafty self-reliance sets the tone for a feminist Kammerspiel for the 21st century, inspiring us to fail better, more glamorously, more celebratory: celebrate the young girl on the ruins of civilization – celebrate the old hag that is the ruin of civilization!