Graduation project
Être à Fleur de Peau (Being Plucked)
Suzanne Corcessin
A collection of textured skin-like samples draws attention to the political dimensions of hair removal.
Être à Fleur de Peau (Being Plucked) uses discomforting textiles to argue against seeing bird plucking and hair removal as neutral acts. Instead, argues Suzanne Corcessin, these are political acts that perpetuate colonial and gender hierarchies. Through bird plucking and the aesthetics of hair removal, bodies have historically been considered more or less human, in order to be controlled and objectified. The installation uses latex, textile, silicone, and feathers to create textures that challenge viewers with conflicting emotions in order to provoke new perspectives on the hair removal debate. In this debate engendered in everyday choices and products, who gets to decide what is right or wrong, beautiful or unsightly?