Unbecoming

Short film shown in For Women, by Women exhibition in Hokin Gallery.

Women are chameleons. We are taught from a young age how to shape shift between forms, expectations, and roles. Society pressures us to paint our faces, arrange our hair, and style our clothes, in specific ways to be able to move through the world. 'unbecoming' explores the process of a young woman getting ready for an important event, and then getting ready for everyday life. The film loops, showing the constant cycle of becoming and unbecoming without labeling which process reveals the truer self. Putting on and taking off makeup is a daily ritual for many American women, a process of transformation between forms. The setting is an antique salon space, filled with mirrors that had seen an uncountable number of people engaging in the process of becoming more "aesthetically pleasing." The music was composed using traditionally "feminine" instruments, layered to create a piece that mimics the layering of makeup and clothes to construct the social mask.