Detail Photos and Demo Video of the work
I stand here wearing a tailored office suit.
It is proper, restrained, and carefully composed.
There is nothing excessive about it, nothing visibly wrong.
When my hands are occupied with documents, my body slips into a working posture.
The scales lower, colors darken, and the light fades.
I appear productive, fulfilling a role that is expected of me.
In many male-dominated workplaces, women are required to maintain a polished appearance—
professional, composed, presentable.
Yet meaningful, constructive, or decision-making tasks are often withheld.
We are seen, but rarely utilized;
asked to display value, but seldom entrusted with it.
The office suit becomes a conflicted vessel.
It speaks the language of authority and rationality,
while enclosing a body positioned at the margins of power.
Women are dressed to look important,
yet spend their days performing repetitive, invisible labor.
When I put the documents down, the scales lift.
Hidden color surfaces, and light returns.
This is not liberation, only a brief pause—
a moment of recognition before being called back again.
Woman in Office Suit does not measure efficiency.
It traces a condition of quiet depletion.
Beneath the polished surface, a self gradually loses weight.
As I am constantly asked to look like I am working,
I ask where I am being placed—and what is slowly disappearing.
My practice examines how bodies are shaped, disciplined, and evaluated within institutional systems—particularly through visibility, appearance, and assigned roles.
I often begin with everyday settings such as offices, professional dress codes, and work routines to explore how power operates through what is considered “appropriate” or “presentable.”
Woman in Office Suit emerges from my experience and observations of women in male-dominated workplaces.
While women are frequently required to maintain a polished and professional appearance, they are often excluded from decision-making and assigned marginal or supportive tasks.
They are visible, but not empowered; present, but not trusted.
The office suit becomes a conflicted symbol in this context.
It signals authority and competence, yet encloses a body that remains outside the core of power.
Women are asked to dress for importance while performing work that does not reflect their value.
In this piece, I translate this contradiction into a bodily interaction.
When I enter a working posture, the garment darkens, lowers, and contracts.
When I step away from the task, color and light reappear—briefly reclaiming space for selfhood.
These shifts are not decorative, but act as a record of suppression and momentary return.
Rather than offering solutions, my work seeks to make these everyday imbalances visible.
I ask what happens when one is constantly required to appear productive and professional,
yet is never fully entrusted with meaningful labor.
Where does the self go when competence is performed, but never acknowledged?