In conversation for social concept

 

What is your name? Where did you grow up?

“My name is Selva. I’m 24 years old. I prefer no pronouns and I was born in Mallorca. Until I was four, I traveled around on a bus with my parents till we ended up in Switzerland in their home. I grew up in different parts of Switzerland.”

“I’m Nadia. I’m 22 and I use the pronouns she/her. I grew up in the countryside in Jura, in the French part of Switzerland. I came here one year ago to do nails.”

What do you do in your life?

Selva:
“I’m currently studying Hyperwerk in Basel and DJ as a hobby. I do styling, photography, Make-Up and Art. Everything I do daily is my artistic practice.”

Nadia:
“I do nails, and I have been self-employed for one year. In my free time, when I am in the countryside, I take care of my bunnies and go outside. I taught 90% of what I know about Nail-Art myself, but I also did a 1.5-month training program.”

What kind of object did you bring with you and why?

Selva:
“I brought my current sketchbook, which I use for school. The main color I’m using in it is red, and I take notes in it, write down my thoughts, add pictures, draw, and after one month, I’ll see what came together.”

Laura:
“Do you have to hand it in?”

Selva:
“Yes, I’ll scan it and present it. Every aspect of life is in it. I like to collect things without taking something away.”

Nadia:
“I brought a bunny and her name’s Ruby, that’s her full name. She’s the actual fruit of my passion for the countryside. I breed bunnies and she’s the child of two of my bunnies. Bunnies are the only thing that reminds me so much of the countryside and to go outside a lot. She is 6 months old.”

What role does creativity play in your life?

Nadia:
“When I was young, I was creative. I liked the classes where you could build stuff (crafts). I used to ride horses at a very high level. During that time, I had a break from creative work because I was always in the stables or doing competitions.I saw a world where you put a curtain on your real self, and you just match yourself to all other people.Once I stopped horse riding, I found myself again in one year. During that time, I changed so much that people from the stable wouldn’t recognize me anymore.”

Selva:
“I think it is very interesting because you could combine horse riding with being creative, but as soon as you do competitions, you’re forced to reach a certain level and fit into the capitalistic system.”

Nadia:
“It also influenced how I looked at life. I started dreaming of being rich and having millions and millions to buy the horse I wanted. But now I am out, and I think that’s not life.”

Selva:
“I was also a creative child. To me, creativity means being able to play, try out things, be in your space, and forget about everything that’s going on”

Laura:
”Do you feel like you can still keep your own creativity when you do jobs and they set boundaries?” 

Selva:
“I took a lot of time figuring out where I felt comfortable in the creative field. For instance, I recently realized I’m not a photographer. I’m a creative director, stylist, and makeup artist; photography has always been a way to capture that. But if someone asks me solely for a photo shoot, they’re not going to get the same result as when I would also do the styling. That’s why I prefer to get someone else to do the photography with more technical knowledge and more passion for it. So, I am trying to figure out how to implement my art into my job without losing my passion for it.”

What do you think of when you hear social concept?

Selva:
”Everything. Everything is a social concept. The blueprint of what a relationship should look like is a social concept. The way you’re supposed to live your life and take certain steps is a made-up concept that humans invented.
If you look at the definitions of the two words. Social is about people being together. A concept is an idea of what something should be. It’s the urge of the human brain to categorize and define everything.”

Laura:
”Let the things be black and white and not everything has to be something.”

Nadia:
”Human beings are so afraid to say who they are, that they put everything in a box.”

Where do you see yourself/would you place yourself in this concept?

Laura:
“I imagine it as a structure of bubbles”

Selva:
“A few years ago, I probably would have said that I go from bubble to bubble and look at it from the outside perspective and look at their similarities. That also makes you a person who’s distant because you never belong to one bubble. Now I would say I’m in a bubble and feel more connected.”

Nadia:
“A few years ago, I would have put myself in a very specific bubble of doing sports and making my family proud. I must make money to be in this circle. Since I quit, I feel like there’s absolutely no bubble for me anymore, because I see all the things I could do in life. Even though I must earn money to survive I can also organize shoots, I can model for my own shoots. I can be my own creator for projects. I can be so many things that I don’t want to put myself in one bubble.”

What is beauty or ugliness for you?

Nadia:
“There are so many words of beauty. For example, there’s the technical aspect of it that we take care of like doing lashes, skincare, and hair. But then there is also the inner beauty of a person. Sometimes I see someone, and, on paper, I wouldn’t be attracted to them but then once I know them, I see a different beauty than the one we were taught. It’s not only features but also character. Nowadays we see a lot of models with special features on the runway but there are still a lot of beauty standards.”

Selva:
“The word beauty triggered something in me. It makes me sad. It makes me think of how beauty is instrumentalized against female-presenting people. If you’re not beautiful, you’re not worth anything in the patriarchy. You’re not being taken seriously. You can be talented, but you have to be pretty.”

Nadia:
“What is super interesting is that people won’t take you seriously if you are too beautiful. There is no right way. For example, in the corporate lifestyle, if you are, by the standards, a beautiful woman and she has a high position, she attracts a lot of jealousy.”

Selva:
“But that’s because it’s implemented in our brain that it’s a competition and that you have to fight for the attention of men and that you have to be prettier than others. The way I see it, it’s very black and white. I also wanted to go into the point that beauty is three-dimensional. It’s the way someone smells or speaks. I often take the train, look at them, and think, ” Wow, you’re so beautiful.” Even though they’re not considered beautiful, quote on quote.”

Laura:
”Beauty in Corporate life is very interesting to me. Why is that stigma of a picture-perfect face, symmetrical boobs, and a skinny waist considered beautiful? Why can’t women who like that not be taken seriously? Are men so mesmerized by looks?”

Selva:
“Everybody is so obsessed with beauty and youth. Especially now with a very picture-based reality, we’re surrounded by it, and you can sell things with it.“

Laura:
“It’s very accessible for women to look a certain way.”

Nadia:
“Every time I have to catch a train and walk through the Zurich main station, I see so many different people. It can go from a CEO to a homeless person. Sometimes I check all these people, and I don’t find anybody who’s beautiful. Sometimes, I still catch myself being affected by looking for features I am attracted to. Even though I see someone well-dressed, their features are not very beautiful to me, I still find them beautiful. But on the other hand, when I see a guy with beautiful features but a rather basic style, that gives me the ick.“

Laura:
” So beauty is a concept of both. It includes how you look, but also how you present yourself. The way you present yourself can be stronger than the way you look.”