A War in Women’s Lore is an interactive installation piece where the audience is able to explore the set of five folkloric characters by listening to the button-activated soundclips associated with each of the. Upon starting the soundclip, the viewer will hear a story being played that corresponds to the folkloric archetype the character embodies. In the center, a lone woman stands. She dresses in modern clothes, dwarfed and overshadowed by the folkloric characters surrounding her, all representing different types of people who all take part in perpetuating patriarchal norms. The inclusion of the “modern woman” is an attempt on my part to ease the way into understanding how folklore lives on in our biases and perspectives. The experience of the viewer will compel them to a deeper engagement of their cultural context and the patriarchal structures at work around them.

Sample of script for the soundpieces (Track 1):

The Tidy Girl

A young man drives a cart of apples, looking for a wife. He yells out: apples for trash! Apples for trash! All the village girls bring out their trash, until one asks for him to wait until she comes back with more. Waiting and waiting… Another girl comes, almost empty handed. “This is all the trash I could find, I wish there was more…” The man says: “you are the tidiest girl, all my apples are yours!” and they live happily ever after.

I open TikTok. I see a street interview: what if her looks are 10/10 but she can’t cook? Response: then she is a zero. Comment by a girl with the same name as me: I have been cooking since I was in kindergarten because I learned it from my mom. Seven likes.