Any Other Name, 2020

The imagery and transformation in Any Other Name seeks to depict the loss of a woman’s identity in traditional, heterosexual, marriage norms. However, not only is her identity sacrificed to that of her husband’s, her new title as wife changes her role within the world. Like a flower, her autonomy has been compromised and placed in a house where her presence and beauty is more important than her well-being. Throughout the video, I wanted to demonstrate through my own symbolism, but also through traditional marriage symbols, the stripping of a woman’s identity, and unequal sacrifice in the name of matrimony. Whether we acknowledge it or not, the traditions we fawn over at the stereotypical Western, specifically white American, wedding are traditions that are often mired in deep misogyny and themes of ownership, and they have not all fallen by the wayside.