Nine local women in Brig-Glis, Valais, Switzerland, meditating on being a woman today, and the contrast between their private worlds and their public lives. The struggles, the past, the present. Genealogical connections, and the legacies to follow or to be broken.
The methodology
I invited local women to come to my studio to reflect about the current role of women in Brig-Glis, and how women experience the concept of the Private and Public in their own lives, while they get in contact with some natural elements from the land that I personally selected.
I made available all the necessary tools to communicate as it was better for them: writing, drawing, doodling, choosing objects, moving around the studio, staying still in silence or expressing through words.
This process took around 60 minutes each.
My role was being a witness. Observing and waiting. Listening. Documenting.
Until the silenced words appeared.
THE STUDIO WORK. CONTEMPLATION & listening.
Charlotte
March 2019
“This society is retrograde in the vision of women. The mandate is to get married and have children in the 20s.
Then, if that does not happen, you have a problem because “nobody chose you”. As if we as women had to wait sat down for a man to save us…“
Elisabeth
March 2019
“My paternal grandmother had to work strictly. In the house, children and a small farm. My grandfather worked away from home. She was creative and could live this talent only after her routine, when she was already tired. On the photos, where she is older, she looks very tired and depressed. As a child I did not notice this side.“
“My mother had a good education. But the choice of her profession , handicraft and home economics teacher’ was a rational decision. From herself, her parents would have also supported another choice of profession. However, she was the eldest daughter of 5 children. She would have preferred to go to school longer, to go to university. When she got married, she gave up her job to devote herself to the family. Maybe she shouldn’t have done that, she loved working as a teacher. My father would have supported that, too.“
Isabelle
April 2019
“Here life is settled. All is well. We do not lack anything, life is quiet. There are no social problems, no financial problems. Everything works well, to the point of feeling anesthetized. And I ask myself: -“Is this life? Just this?”-.“
“I consider myself very lucky that in hindsight, I wouldn’t change much. The only thing I did wrong was to return to my old German-speaking school after an exchange year in Romandie, and this because of a fact that, objectively speaking, staying there would have had no bad effect at all. I already lived out as a teenager, what I still try to do: enrich my life as much as possible with experiences and have the courage to try new things.”
Silvia
April 2019
“There is space for everything here. There is time for everything, except for anguish.”
“I think my father’s mother was content with her life. It was a simple life without much money. But she raised her children to be good people. I think that made her very happy. My mother’s mother struggled with her own circumstances. Certainly she often dreamed of a different life. But she couldn’t realize that because of the cultural role of women at that time, who after getting married, they were only wives.”
Petra
April 2019
“As a child, my mother was a goddess to me. She gave me absolutely everything a child could wish for from a mother. Then, during puberty, there was a lot of friction. That was the time when we were most distant from each other. In the meantime we have become very close.”
“I had a great and important relationship with my grandmothers. My maternal grandmother was a very important person for me. We often stayed with her, two weeks at a time, when my parents were traveling. I trusted her blindly. I was very happy that she was still able to meet my children. She was very close to me, I looked up to her, admired her. ”
Stella
April 2019
“While I was meditating on this task, I realized that the life I have today is what I always wanted. And that makes me happy.”
“This is a society that judges, always, and that suffers what people say. Life is lived according to the gaze of others; of what others say, of what others think.“
Sharon
April 2019
“With my mother we used to argue a lot. Today, for example, I realize why I didn’t have the same “rights” as my younger brother when I was a daughter. In my teenage phase I was not allowed to go out for long. Today I know that she was only afraid for me. Even today, at the age of 24, I am asked if someone will accompany me home after going out. She forbade me such little things, but she had great trust in me and I was almost never restricted.”
“I would tell my former self not to worry about everything. Much of what is said should not be taken too personally. You are not perfect and you should not be perfect. The most important thing is to be able to love yourself. Only then your own self-confidence grows and with it the courage to make something out of yourself, because if you have something to say, say it. Your opinion counts too. As a woman, you also have the right to present yourself as you are, without always having to adapt to others. Individuality is beautiful.”
Hanne
April 2019
“In my family we do not have a specific religious profession (coming from Scandinavia), and we did not want to send our children to religious school. But then we found out that all the other kids did, and our kids would say: -“Our friends talk about things that we don’t know about…. And they leave us out of the games…-“
We ended up signing them up for catechism school just for the sake of keeping them integrated into their circle of friends.”
Manuela
April 2019
“Children are taught in school that girls remain at home and boys belong outside. The traditional roles are really strong here. When it’s time for supper, the girls of the family are the ones who set the table, not the boys. Even if they are the same age.“
“It’s us women who raise these children, with this mentality. How do we change this model? That´s a question I seriously ask myself.“
Photography & Stories 