Alevtina Kakhidze. Only for Men, or, My Beloved, Appear in the Mirror, 2006. Performance. Up to Several Hours
Description
The performance Only for Men, or, My Beloved, Appear in the Mirror became Alevtina Kakhidze’s most prominent work within her line of feminist statements.
In it, the artist offers a contemporary take on ancient rituals and traditions largely associated with women’s practices—specifically, the fortune-telling rites young women once used to predict their future husbands. The initial reference for the work was the painting Svetlana Foretelling (1836) by Russian artist Karl Bryullov.
During the performance, the artist sat in a room facing a large wall-sized mirror, above which was written: “Suitor-disguised, appear to me in the mirror.” Men who were let into the space would instantly appear in the mirror—each one becoming a potential artist’s choice. Kakhidze highlighted the traditionally passive role assigned to women in choosing a partner and once again used the device of role reversal: the artist constructs a space on her own terms, where men lose the privileges of the established patriarchal system and she herself gains subjectivity. Women were not allowed to attend the event.
The performance took place at the Center for Contemporary Art at NaUKMA with the support of the “Institute of Spiritual Values.” The curator was Jerzy Onuch.
