Bombastic side eye Wall

The Bombastic Side Eye Wall is a series of twelve distinctive prints honoring marginalized figures in art history. Inspired by a contemporary TikTok trend expressing disapproval through a sideways glance, the work also references a historical pose found in classical portraiture created under restrictive conditions by female-identifying artists. This characteristic diagonal downward gaze, often misread as submissive, reflects the limitations many artists faced when barred from drawing live models and forced to work from mirrors. Functioning like an idol wall in a teenager’s room, the installation celebrates these overlooked figures as sources of strength and critique, while drawing attention to ongoing disparities in representation and recognition within institutional collections. (1)

Within this portrait series, the bombastic side eye appears alongside other poses that range from subtly defiant to boldly assertive. Together, these gestures serve as subversive and emancipatory expressions of social and political resistance, bridging historical and contemporary practices of self-representation and empowerment.

First image: Installation view from Group Exhibition "Unwritten" Museum Gunzenhauser / Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz, 2025. Six of the twelve works are exhibited alongside Gabriele Münter’s portrait prints.

1) see Jennifer Higgie, The Mirror and the Palette: 500 Years of Women’s Self-Portraits (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2021)