The woman. (noun) series takes as its starting point the resumption of a research project—begun during my doctoral studies—on the female body, which I now revisit through the lens of its status as an object in art and everyday experience. The resources employed in this research are photographic imagery and the formalizing, objectifying language found in dictionaries.

In the online Michaelis Portuguese dictionary, the 12 definitions of the entry mulher (woman) define the term based on: 1) biological sex; 2) biological maturity marked by the onset of menstruation; and 3) the relationship established with a man as the central figure. In that same dictionary, out of the 24 common expressions featuring the word mulher, 13 are synonyms for “prostitute.”

The installation consists of images in which I photograph my naked body in four static poses: front, back, right side, and left side. By applying nine distinct treatments to each image, I create a montage where the nuances of black, white, and gray—along with the composition—evoke a sense of movement, reminiscent of Muybridge’s early experiments aimed at capturing human and animal motion. The 10×15 cm photos are displayed in a clear acrylic frame—resembling a wooden children’s memory game—mounted on a rotating stand that allows them to be turned individually. On the back of each of the 36 photographs, I have distributed 27 of the 36 definitions and/or expressions for the entry “woman” (mulher) from the Michaelis online dictionary, alongside nine phrases that were either addressed to me or overheard when directed at a woman in my circle. Viewers can rotate the photos to reveal either the front or the back—image or text—thereby creating multiple compositions.