XXXII is a video piece in which the artist, dressed in the likeness of Jesus
as seen in Caravaggio’s Supper at Emmaus, continuously blows out
candles on her 32nd birthday cake. The last birthday still "younger than
Jesus". Her frustration visibly increasing as the candles continue to
relight is a metaphor for the pressure she feels due to the age
expectations placed on her by society; success, motherhood, income
etc. Inspiration is drawn from the term the ‘social clock’ coined by the
American psychologist and feminist Bernice Neugarten who debunked
the idea of a biological clock determining age. Instead, she theorised
that there was a social clock determining the “correct” time for
marriage, childbearing and academic success.
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