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 to my sister and I.
"Dressmaker" is a collaboration between my mother and I, where photography and performance attempt to free her from the confines of traditional motherhood, enabling her to carve out her own identity through her chosen vocation: that of the dressmaker.
For my mother, making clothes transcends mere necessity; it represents a potent means of self-expression and identity. 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.
Drawing from my mother’s journey, "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.
"Dressmaker" is a collaboration between my mother and I, where photography and performance attempt to free her from the confines of traditional motherhood, enabling her to carve out her own identity through her chosen vocation: that of the dressmaker.
For my mother, making clothes transcends mere necessity; it represents a potent means of self-expression and identity. 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.
Drawing from my mother’s journey, "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.