Dressmaker (2022 - ongoing)
documentary, archive, collaboration
We all play different roles in life.
Rossella Bessega, born near Venice, Italy, in 1966, so far, has been a daughter, sister, wife, and mother.
"Dressmaker" is a collaboration between my mother and I, where photography and performance allow us to travel beyond the confines of traditional motherhood and carve out her chosen identity: that of the dressmaker.
For my mother, making clothes transcends mere necessity; it represents a potent means of self-expression. The sound of the sewing machine humming in the background as I grew up is etched vividly in my memory, as are her words saying that she would find herself more in her identity as a dressmaker than in her role as a mother.
Born out of a need to put order to years of disconnected dialogue and scattered words, "Dressmaker" aims to create a space that transcends narratives portraying motherhood as a socially constructed norm, to instead create a space where mothers, and by extension all women, can assert and celebrate their individuality beyond the confinements of traditional caregiving.
Rossella Bessega, born near Venice, Italy, in 1966, so far, has been a daughter, sister, wife, and mother.
"Dressmaker" is a collaboration between my mother and I, where photography and performance allow us to travel beyond the confines of traditional motherhood and carve out her chosen identity: that of the dressmaker.
For my mother, making clothes transcends mere necessity; it represents a potent means of self-expression. The sound of the sewing machine humming in the background as I grew up is etched vividly in my memory, as are her words saying that she would find herself more in her identity as a dressmaker than in her role as a mother.
Born out of a need to put order to years of disconnected dialogue and scattered words, "Dressmaker" aims to create a space that transcends narratives portraying motherhood as a socially constructed norm, to instead create a space where mothers, and by extension all women, can assert and celebrate their individuality beyond the confinements of traditional caregiving.