Representation matters because it can shape how people are viewed by society and how they view themselves. Through this project, we wanted to re-create princesses and reclaim the role models we grew up watching on TV. The princesses were developed by the members of the club and reflect their cultural backgrounds.
RORO
Peru
Artist: Marisol Salazar
Posters
Princess Stories
Aeri, a high school student, comes from an upper-class family that expects her to succeed through the conventional university system. She is sent to “Hakwon” where she must spend hours after school to study for school tests, however, Aeri thinks that she can find her success elsewhere. Her dream is to one day become a famous K-pop star, to be recognized globally for her talent and beauty. She spends her school break time dancing, while other students are busy finishing their Hakwon homework. She skips Hakwon and moves away from studying all in hope of becoming a star. She puts countless hours into bettering herself, her image, and her dancing.
Her goal is to become a K-pop trainee to launch her career and start to make her way up in the industry. She is hungry for the title of “Idol” and fame is calling her name. She knows she can sing and dance, but she still feels that she is not ready for her audition. She scrolls through the countless streams of K-pop stars noticing their petite figures, their perfect skin, dreaming and wishing that she could be as ‘perfect’ as they are. She visits a plastic surgeon who promises her the beauty she desires and she reluctantly accepts the surgeon’s offer.
She sacrifices her looks to become the Kpop star she had always set out to become, but now she’s not whom she used to be. Aeri does well at her audition and successfully becomes a trainee. In order to get to where she is today, she had to change herself to be in the industry.
Belén lives in Buenos Aires with her parents and aunt whilst she studies. Her aunt always reminds her “If you have sex before marriage, things are going to go very badly.” She tells her boyfriend that she can’t have sex even though she really wants to; until one day it happens. For days she feels guilty but thinks that it can’t be so bad, it felt right. One day her classmates continuously talk about a demonstration as they wear green handkerchiefs. Her aunt always said the green handkerchiefs, the “Feminists”, are the ones whom things “go very badly” for.
Belén becomes concerned, her period is late. One day she follows her friends to a demonstration; she felt safe and free of judgment. She approaches one of her classmates and tells her she’s worried she might be pregnant. She takes a pregnancy test and confirms her fear, she fears what her family might think or do. Belén wants to abort so she reaches out to her new friend for help. She stays throughout the whole process to make sure Belén is safe and everything goes well.
Relieved, after she recovers from the abortion, Belén comes back home and finds her aunt, sewing in a spinning wheel and watching the Abortion Debate on TV. Her aunt grabs a needle, looking at it, and back at the TV with anger “I wish a could sew these feminists' fate with this needle so things would go very badly for those who want to abort.” Aurora feels guilty for a moment but then she remembers that things don’t have to “go very badly” for anyone as long as we all fight together.
Princesses Re-imagined
This project took us 2 months to develop. We started by thinking about the five countries we wanted to re-imagine the princesses. We started with researching traditions and trends in these countries and combined them with the stories and the visuals of well-known princesses around the world.
Aeri
South Korea
Artist: Wonjun Gye
Belén
Argentina
Artist: Christina Park
Inspiration: Ariel from "The Little Mermaid"
Inspiration: Aurora from "Sleeping Beauty"
Roro
Indonesia
Artist: Aura Victoria
Curi Coyllur
Peru
Artist: Marisol Salazar
Mei
Malaysia
Artist: Elena May Saini Jeffery
Once upon a time, there was a beautiful Indonesian woman named Nyi Roro Kidul. She was the princess of the Pajajaran Kingdom and lived with her father. Her father chose to remarry in hopes of receiving an heir to his throne for Roro could never be queen as it was against palace law. When her stepmother came into her life she came filled with jealousy, she gave Roro’s father a choice, stay with me and your unborn heir or your daughter. Unsure what to do Roro’s father used black magic to turn his daughter into an unlookable creature.
Roro desperately fled to the Southern Sea after being struck by the black magic. The ocean called her name, whispering to her that she can be cured. She jumped into the violent waves of the ocean where she was finally cured and regained her beauty. The spirits and demons of the ocean crowned her as the legendary Spirit-Queen of the South Sea as she swore to protect the ocean from harm.
Nyi Roro Kidul is a well-known and regarded mythical serving as the Queen of the Southern Sea in the region of Yogyakarta. She is portrayed to be a very beautiful woman wearing green traditional Javanese clothing. She is believed to exist up until now, especially in the Yogyakarta region. Interestingly, she is portrayed to be a “monster” to the public, even though she helps to keep the balance of the sea spirits. It is said that whenever someone steps into her shore using green clothing, they will be kidnapped and enslaved by Roro.
Cusi Coyllur is the daughter of the Inca king Pachacutec and she is in love with Ollantay, a prohibited love due to his commoner background. Blinded by love, they pursue a secret relationship, Ollantay deciding to ask the Inca king for his daughter's hand. Pachacutec reproaches Ollantay for his audacity and expels him from the court. Cusi is imprisoned in the Acllahuasi (“house of chosen women") to suffer for her sins; there she gives birth to a baby girl, named Ima Sumac. Ollantay, on learning that Cusi Coyllur is no longer in the palace, believes she has been murdered and decides to leave the imperial capital of Cusco threatening to one day return and destroy it.
Ten years later The King dies without having defeated Ollantay, and his son Tupac Yupanqui succeeds him. Tupac Yupanqui eventually resolves to defeat and capture Ollantay, bringing them to Cusco to face his judgment, condemning the prisoners to death.
Soon afterward, Ima Sumac, Cusi Coyllur’s daughter, enters the imperial palace to ask for clemency for her imprisoned mother. Although Tupac doesn't yet know who this is, he takes an interest in the case and together with Ollantay goes to the Acllahuasi. There, they find a woman with very long hair and a ghostly appearance that Tupac finally recognizes as his sister. Cusi Coyllur tells her story, and Tupac Yupanqui frees her, reverses the punishment for Ollantay, and allows them to get married.
Mei is a Malaysian-Chinese girl who grew up in a strict and somewhat poor Nyonya household where tradition is strong and very Buddhist. Her mother, a very strict woman, has always warned her not to fall in love with a Malay man as she would have to change culture and religion. She spins tales of the Malays and paints them as ‘beasts’. One day Mei meets a ‘beast’ hurt from a vehicle accident. Mei is training to be a doctor and decides to nurse the ‘beast’ back to health in a hospital.
Over time she slowly comes to see him as he really is - a Malay man known as Zaidi, who is not how her mother described him. She visits him often and slowly falls in love with him. Fuad begins working at the hospital with Mei. Mei’s mother sees them together, and, seeing nothing but a ‘beast’ that has stolen her daughter away, they have a huge argument. Mei’s mother threatens to kill Zaidi and Mei is terrified. Mei, independent and headstrong, runs away and lives with Zaidi.
Whilst living with Zaidi, Mei is diagnosed with a chronic disease. As it progresses in severity she tells her mother, unsure that she will survive. Her mother visits often and sees how Zaidi takes care of her daughter. Eventually she stops seeing him as a ‘beast’ and instead as the man is. After Mei makes a recovery, Mei’s mother apologises to Zaidi, now fully ‘human’. Zaidi in turn forces no cultural or religious changes upon Mei. They marry with Mei’s mother’s blessing.
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