Vanilla Salvation

2023

The work deals with the notions of salvation through the suffering of stereotypical "sad girl". Both salvation and suffering take forms of widely discussed contemporary phenomena, eating disorders, toxic relationships, self-objectification, modern spirituality. In her ironic and humorous way, Pavic explores the stereotypes and their (sex) appeal. Mostly, with the construction of gender and sexuality, especially the ambivalence they carry. Without taking a superior stand of distant feminist criticism, she wants to see how women take part in reproduction of those models - what is there that is so pleasing and rewarding for ourselves that we cannot just abandon it. There is some form of promised salvation that we create inside those oppressive models. Paradise where we are perfect and hidden, where we exist to others only as a concept. And the hell is in the disruptive nature of loss of control over the image we create. The reference to Rosemary's Baby takes meaning even further-it opens the questions of representation of female pain and its fetishization. Ambivalence of positions - subject and object, criticism and engagement, irony and literalism, all bring us to the conclusion that there are no saints and sinners among us, only newly invented Gods and Goddesses. - Ana Simona Zelenović