Five oversized sculptures, reminiscent of table football figures, constitute the subject of this work. Unlike popular expectations, however, these figures make a difference: they represent female rather than male players. Here they are appropriated with an intention to problematise the perpetually unresolved issue of gender inequality in Montenegro, which continues to shape its society even nowadays. The work is a commentary on traditional viewpoints and attitudes carved by centuries- long matrices of common thinking, behaviour and social relations that have been predominantly formed by an omnipresent - and also, "oversized" - rule of patriarchy. This is the reason why the jerseys, worn by female players as shown hereby, work towards undressing and baring naked (over and over again) popular yet powerful stereotypes according to which a woman is doomed to remain fixed to prescribed social roles and positions, objectified and without any opportunity to either complain or invert given conditions in her own favour. To expose the iconographic complexity of those conditions, converging towards the same point of perspective - regardless of their outward appearance, the work puts forward five models as five conventions, distinguished merely on the surface but essentially the same. The two teams play one against the other. One is the Contemporary Team, the other is the Conservative.
There are three players in Contemporary team: a cute, chaste young pregnant woman- ready to reproduce, wherever necessary and whenever her partner wants it. Her jersey is a tight- fitting dress that accentuates the pregnant belly. Another player looks like a silicone- inflated doll accessory, reduced to a mere object of male sexual desire. Her jersey is barely noticeable, making her look almost undressed - and ready-to-use. Third one is a working woman: obsessed with her career, she is dressed in a strictly female business suit.
Conservative Team consists of two players: First one personifies a traditional woman, understood as a good wife and mother, who takes care of her household and her family. Her jersey consists of a long skirt, whereas her head is veiled by an indispensable scarf, the inimitable sign of her humbleness - and her submissiveness, too. Second one looks completely like a man.She is actually a virginia- tobelia - another cruel construct of patriarchy. Her jersey hides women’s attributes well and consists of a wider men’s shirt and men’s trousers.
Whatever they tend to showcase by wearing their typical outfits, they keep forgetting - or ignoring - one simple element: the game they take part in has not been fair from the very beginning, which creates an absurd situation plagued by conflicts - among themselves. They play a male game, according to male rules, and one against the other. There is no visual or material reference of HIS presence during the game, but HE is the only one who scores points, Over and Over again.
Work was presented in important international project Woman About Woman and in documentary movie about the project.
https://e1.pcloud.link/publink/show?code=XZqK68Zmc19uJTXM8BQzCtId2vwBHankHOy
