Production stills: Roni Mocán

“Retorno a la pubertad”
“Return to Puberty”

New York, 2005
Single-channel digital video
58 minutes
Color, Silent

Video close-up of my pubis in a static single shot, in which I depilate most of my pubic hair with a pair of tweezers continuously for one hour.

In the name of beauty most women will put on makeup, do their hair, nails, depilate, diet, fix their noses and breasts. Although few women will reach society’s beauty ideals, they will sculpt their bodies as needed. In this video I play along with women’s beauty rituals, performing them in exaggerated ways to reflect the pressures imposed by today’s society. The camera focuses on the part of the body where the action takes place: With repetitive gestures I depilate my pubis continuously for one hour, questioning the pressure to have a pre-pubescent appearance.