“How to Be Beautiful” is a series of urban art interventions that deals with a certain idea of femininity and the possibility to find a new concept of beauty. As a woman, I feel I’m constantly asked to fit a role, to match a precise idea of womanhood, to embody few external expectations about how to be, to appear, to behave. A main model is violently imposed by this society through advertising, education, religion, and mainstream culture. Willing to escape the model offered to me by this society, I constantly struggle to find my own femininity, freeing myself from gender stereotypes and chauvinist desires. I wonder if it’s possible to change the external environment instead of changing ourselves to fit it.

During my unannounced performance, I painted small wild plants and weeds with red nail polish, slowly transforming the environment in a seemingly colored and pleasant space. However, what seems innocent and playful soon becomes a slightly cruel act of killing part of the nature, raising questions about the concept of beauty and the contemporary aesthetic obsession.

Every time I do this performance, I’ll be wearing the same elegant outfit: a white dress, high heels. This augments my discomfort during the performances. I will define an area to color entirely. I will not show the documentation of the performance, but only its final result, therefore transforming my action in an installation/photographic project.