Gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss by Tsvetomira Borisova at Punta, Sofia

Dates: June 11 - June 24, 2022

Location: Punta, Sofia, Bulgaria

Solo exhibition by Tsvetomira Borisova

Curated by: Boyana Dzhikova

Photographer: Kalin Serapionov

Gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss examines the idea of the independent woman through the figure of her evil twin sister in a body of hardened mud, with minimal possibilities for movement. The title comes from the popular Twitter phrase "gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss", an ironic reference to the well-known "live, love, laugh".

Тsvetomira builds the inner world of the (stereotypical idea of) successful woman in stages, bringing together her attributes - necklace, intertwined knives, leash. Composed of archaic totems of violence, but glittering, the essence of her universe is reduced to decor.

Gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss reveals the near-impossible situation facing the woman who wants to identify with her independence but is swamped by clichés about what her behavior should be, constructed from a chain of causal connections that, at their core, have nothing to do with anything. It also presents us with a toxic behaviour travested as feminism, which, however, we feel socially embarrassed to recognise as such.

In the direction of defending the "freedom of weakness" and normalizing the empathy of the independent woman, the exhibition addresses the "Golden Girl" fairytale who, in the process of her initiation, shows tenderness towards the "creatures" she takes cares of (her own demons?).

The Girlboss's world is not monolithic - pink and soft, sharp and nasty, it contains within itself an impressive palette of female desires. In that sense, it is a world of possibility and a source of support, albeit an ephemeral one. The contradiction comes from the pull of its perfect aesthetic, into which we slip whenever we want, and its beauty - that we have the ability to do so - in the spirit of dualistic female (and human) nature. It is its nuances that are the focus of Tsvetomira's work.

The exhibition brings to the surface the enormous need to renew the reference points of female independence and to update the idea of contemporary feminism, while making sense of the complex and multi-layered inner world of women