Eva & Willemijn

Story of self

Personal Project about violence against woman within the family

Researching and writing our own experiences

Willemijn

My family and I

mom

dad

My brother and I

Eva

Planning/
structure

Recording/
proces

We (Eva and Willemijn) are from very different family structures but throughout our differences we have a lot of similarities. We are both brought up in a gender traditional way. As a girl you have to act a certain way. Don’t be too girly because then you are a slut. Don’t be too boylike because you are not tough enough for that. This is an example of the violence that goes hand in hand with a classical upbringing.

Through the process of this project we came to the realization that we are shaped by our families, and even have scars. Not just us but every person is a product of their own history. You as a person are shaped by different factors; your family structure, your upbringing, the community and so on. You can say that every person is a bigger picture with different little puzzle pieces that eventually makes the person who they are.

Our first encounter with violence that we both can clearly remember was about what we should or shouldn’t wear. Eva was not allowed to wear a belly button top and Willemijn was not allowed to wear pants on the Sundays. We want to combine our two most interesting findings: 1- Every person is made out of puzzle pieces, and 2- the violence that we as young women (like a lot of women) had experienced by the restrictions on our self expression through clothes.We want to make a garment that reflects our own puzzle pieces and tells the story of our own history - and the violence within -.

Our aim for this project is the normalization of questioning ones upbringing and looking critically at our familie bonds, without judgement. Our project is a reflection tool. By dissecting all your family ties you can really look into every relationship, and find out new things about yourself and others.

How is the way we dress now, a result of the violence we experienced in our upbringing?

Final