veils

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While planning my sister’s wedding, I
struggled to help personalize the event to
fit my sister and her fiancé. I was struck
by the uniform expectations involved in
the wedding industry and focused on the
notion of veiling and unveiling a woman
who chooses to marry. These images of
veiled brides were intriguing and yet
profoundly disturbing. Were we to
believe these women were invisible or
anonymous before reaching the altar? At
this time the “Coors Twins” inundated the
media, and I understood that the wedding
industry entertains the same exploitative
theories for product sale.

I initiated the series to explore the veil
through which we view women and
women view the world. With this
collection, I am attempting to demystify
these veils and their power to strip
women of control over their value, image
and self-worth. More often than not veils
are disguised as slick ads, often
overlooked by both men and women as
images of beauty. I hope that by labeling
these images and displaying them
prominently before the eyes of the
women who are my family and friends, we
may understand that the veil covers us all.