An Introduction To Womanhood In The Modern World

A sixteenth birthday party, the age of consent, the preparations, the music, the food. The tape focuses on the rituals that attend the party and ask what is being celebrated and by whom?”… both ironic, humorous and densely layered. A static camera shows a pair of hands decorating a birthday cake in the form of a woman’s face. The icing (make-up) is applied as the soundtrack features a party atmosphere (Chuck Berry’s Sweet Little Sixteen) candles are inserted into the cake/face and lit, the lights go down and ‘happy birthday’ is sung. The candles are blown out, the lights go up and the candles are removed. With cynical understatement yet visceral impact, the face is then cut into slices which are separated one by one from the body of the cake, as if in human vivisection. The final shot is of a slice being consumed – an obscene gestures of cannibalism and exploitation, yet superficially, quite acceptable.”(Colin Gardner. Artweek USA. Jan 1983)