In ‘Snapchat Femen,’ the young girl is pictured with a Snapchat filter that places pale pink, red, and yellow flowers over her forehead. This filter was popularised on social media...
In ‘Snapchat Femen,’ the young girl is pictured with a Snapchat filter that places pale pink, red, and yellow flowers over her forehead. This filter was popularised on social media in the late 2010s and was used widely by young people to share instantly edited photographs of themselves. The girl appears confident with the crown; it seems to be an accessory that she is comfortable with. In this painting it is impossible to tell that the Snapchat crown is digital, implying that the girl’s digital and physical selves are difficult to distinguish. The painting seems to be of the girl, but it could also be of a filtered photograph of the girl. The title of this painting refers to Femen, a global feminist activist group who are famously seen wearing flower crowns at their protests. In the case of the members Femen, flower crowns act as a signifier of their identity as radical activists and members of a movement. The title of this painting highlights how the flower crown can have a multitude of meanings, messages, and symbolisms. The young girl is probably unfamiliar with Femen or the significance of their message, yet she bears a fascinating resemblance to the flower-crowned protestors.
Hypermoralismus, Hipphalle, Gmunden, 2020; Vermessung des Luxus, Museum Angerlehner, Thalheim bei Wels, 2019; Galerie Schloss Puchheim, Attnang-Puchheim, 2018