In my photography-based works, collages and installations, pop-culture, activism, and Camp come vibrantly together. As a woman of color suffering from chronic illness, I was often told I should just see the world through a more optimistic lens. Instead, I built a world of my own, using my work to claim space within a society that was not designed for me. As part of the collage that forms the decor of my installation, I display self-portraits that comically undermine cultural stereotypes. They are combined with a range of images that show pop culture with its glitter and flair, but also as a double standard: while it was pop culture that inspired much of us to dream, it can also be regarded as a vast overview of the unachievable standards and stereotypes that are imposed throughout society today. Both praising and reflecting on it by using irony and Camp, I proudly create a space for myself, regardless of these standards, showing you my world through ‘the Angel-Rose colored glasses’.

Based on a text by Menno Vuister