Vida perra

The photograph records a performance conceived as a photographic work, addressing female alcoholism. I chose the subject because my artistic interests include identity and gender, together with socioculturally contentious phenomena approached through psychological and emotional enquiry.

The work brings visibility to an almost unseen situation experienced by 31% of women in Spain. The profile associated with this addiction is a woman aged between 14 and 34, most often single, separated or divorced, with secondary or higher education, and either economically active or a student or pensioner (Gómez Moya, J., 2003). This behaviour, usually hidden and carried out in solitude, receives little support or understanding from those around it. The social and family rejection experienced by women with alcohol dependence contributes to feelings of guilt and shame, for which alcohol may once again become a refuge, reinforcing the problem. In patriarchal societies shaped by the major monotheistic religions, women with alcohol dependence experience the shame and guilt associated with cultural values that reward female sacrifice and self-denial for the sake of the family. When dependence begins, that cultural self-image collapses and the illness is lived in secret.

Worldwide, 71% of white women have engaged in heavy drinking at some point in their lives, compared with 47% of African-American and Hispanic women and 37% of Asian women. Given the scale of these figures, I considered the issue serious enough to warrant artistic attention.

Because I wanted to approach the subject through emotional and psychological exploration, and because of the social stigma surrounding it, I chose to model for the work myself. It was easier to work with my own body while inhabiting a borrowed identity for a time. My tolerance for alcohol is virtually non-existent, so the entire action explores the substance and its consequences through emotional and psychological empathy rather than through physical experience.