Girls, Not Objects

-Art Photo Exhibition-

    The exhibition aims to deliver message about the sexual objectification problem happened within Girl-group idols in dustry through conceptual photographs. I participated in this exhibition as one of the production team, interviewing the idols, conceptualizing and controlling the art direction of the photos and the whole image of the exhibition. Profit from this project was donated to UN Women Asia and the Pacific. Which we were hornored by Mr.Mohammad Naciri,the director for the Arab States and Asia Pacific regions for the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women to give a speech for the opening ceremony. For more information of the exhibition please read below.




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    “GIRLS, NOT OBJECTS” is an exhibition hosted by two groups of undergraduate students composed of IKIGAI from Music and Entertainment Business, Silpakorn University and Murasaki Studio from Communication Design (CommDe), Chulalongkorn University who has been collaborating with other students from คณะดุริยางคศาสตร์, Silpakorn university.

    IKIGAI group has the opportunity to study and work within the frame of entertainment business related to idol girl groups and realized the persisting issue that had not been widely discussed within the community, Objectification. Objectification is a term describing acts of human devaluation and treatment of humans as mere objects. This issue is rooted from various factors including cyber-harassment, social norms toward the so-called “public figure” and effects on the entertainment business’s market mechanism. If studied and examined close enough, the Objectification problem could not be blamed on one culprit. Rather, it is complex, many-faceted problem that is increasing in today’s society.
   
    This exhibition aims to communicate the issue to both the general audience and people within the business itself to recognize and be aware of the problem. Murasaki studio choose to communicate the message through the art of photography which has a unique property that allows the creator to incorporate narratives and semiotics that allow the audience to truly understand the true meaning of each artwork.

    Apart from the photography artwork, the exhibition also brought the ‘Photo set’ culture common in Idols business and their fanbase as the fans often collects set images of their favourite idols as a sign of their support. “GIRLS, NOT OBJECTS’ exhibition aims to utilize the “Photo set” culture as a tool for communication and campaigning social issue by transforming them into images that tell a story and sign. These set of images would urge the audience to question themselves and be more aware of the Objectification problem.

    18 photographs will be exhibited within the exhibition. All the images are rendered and conceptualized from interviews, stories and opinions toward the Objectification problem from 23 artists. These 18 photographs could be interpreted as 18 messages that would allow the society to see and understand the problem of objectification in different perspective. Profit from this project was donated to THE UNITED NATIONS ENTITY FOR GENDER EQUALITY AND THE EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN (“ UN Women Asia and the Pacific ”) to help improve the quality of life of women.