terrorist treatment
This project provocatively merges feminist theory with social critique, challenging societal norms and biases. During her performance, Yelena enters an exhibition with a suitcase, changes into a red dress, and paints her body red, evoking the image of a suicide bomber. This startling transformation forces the audience to confront their implicit biases and stereotypes, highlighting the universality of mortality and dismantling the association of terrorism with specific regions or identities. Her work calls for awareness of life’s fragility and shared vulnerability. To engage the audience further, Yelena offered the “terrorist treatment” for 5 euros, inviting participants to be body-painted red. No one accepted, reflecting a collective discomfort with the themes she presented. This refusal underscores society’s reluctance to confront unsettling realities, even when directly challenged to engage. Yelena deepened her critique by scattering designer fashion items she made herself on the floor, accompanied by exaggerated price tags. These obstacles mocked the inaccessibility of the fashion industry, exposing its commodification of identity and privilege. By disrupting the gallery space, she symbolically challenged the capitalist values these luxury items represent, linking consumerism to broader systems of oppression. Through her bold performance, Yelena collapses boundaries between art, politics, and everyday life. Her work reclaims the body as a site of resistance, forcing audiences to confront their complicity in systems of inequality. By juxtaposing themes of mortality and commodification, she encourages reflection on the constructs shaping perceptions of power and vulnerability.
