LESLEY
BODZY

My most recent project, Is This Desire? emerged from the passing of my father and the emotional labor that ensued. His hospitalization because of Covid-19, and the negotiation of a tense emergency situation with the rest of my family reopened wounds and foregrounded feelings I had not experienced for decades. I found myself reflecting upon the devastating power of the throwaway comments and the dismissive glances that had defined my upbringing in subtle and yet fundamental ways. How gender implications and societal hostilities have led to the woman I am today, my fears, my anxieties, my tenaciousness.

The golden veils appear as reimaginations of Venus’ drapes of modesty and decorum—vibrant visualizations of vulnerability, the aftermath of everyday traumas that still define women’s lives today. Thin and yet resistant, the veils allude to the vulnerability of many women who, oppressed by patriarchal institutions, must conceal feelings and emotions beneath a veneer of objectified and appealing perfection. Each work is a meditation on the patriarchal logic of power and a feminist logic shaped by resilience, vulnerability, and strength.