Gold 2018-2023
This performance-based work examines the historical and ongoing positioning of women as subjects of exchange within social and economic systems. Drawing on traditions in which marriage is tied to dowry and the transfer of gold, the piece investigates gold as both a material of value and a symbolic marker of worth, status, and gendered expectation.
In the live performance, I wear a gold gown and adorn my body with gold, embodying the visual language of wealth, desirability, and ornamentation. Moving through the space, I approach individuals and propose marriage to each person I encounter. When a proposal is accepted, I offer a gold coin in return, reversing and complicating the conventional gesture of dowry, in which value is typically transferred to the bride.
Through this performative exchange, the work exposes and disrupts the transactional logic embedded in marital traditions, while also highlighting how such systems persist in contemporary contexts. Grounded in my cultural background and lived experience, the piece reflects on how ideas of value, gender, and agency are negotiated across time and place. By placing my own body at the center of these interactions, the work invites viewers to reconsider the relationship between intimacy, economics, and power.
In the live performance, I wear a gold gown and adorn my body with gold, embodying the visual language of wealth, desirability, and ornamentation. Moving through the space, I approach individuals and propose marriage to each person I encounter. When a proposal is accepted, I offer a gold coin in return, reversing and complicating the conventional gesture of dowry, in which value is typically transferred to the bride.
Through this performative exchange, the work exposes and disrupts the transactional logic embedded in marital traditions, while also highlighting how such systems persist in contemporary contexts. Grounded in my cultural background and lived experience, the piece reflects on how ideas of value, gender, and agency are negotiated across time and place. By placing my own body at the center of these interactions, the work invites viewers to reconsider the relationship between intimacy, economics, and power.