«The Order Effect»

Emotional regulation accompanies a person throughout their entire life—in the family, daycare, school, at work, and in intimate relationships. A child internalizes which emotions are acceptable even before they learn to name them, and these rules then begin to operate internally, without external compulsion.

Suppressed emotions do not disappear. They find expression in the body, and this expression is rarely direct: clenched fists, a tight jaw, shallow breathing, slumped shoulders, averted gaze, nervous laughter. These are forms of emotional expression for which there is no outlet for direct and open articulation.

The project is based on Michel Foucault’s ideas about discipline, which is distributed across institutions and everyday practices, and through them is subtly absorbed as a norm. The project is also informed by sociologist Arlie Hochschild’s work on emotional labor: individuals constantly manage their feelings according to perceived correct rules.

I believe that the constant regulation of feelings has consequences. Pressure directed against human nature wounds us, and this damage affects the rest of our lives—it begins to interfere with our ability to express emotions appropriately. Therefore, in my project, I push to an extreme the situations in which a person cannot express their feelings adequately.

As a result of suppression and regulation, emotions begin to manifest in an inadequate way. In my artistic project, I push this situation to absurdity to make visible what is usually perceived as natural and unnoticed: how deeply rules can penetrate human behavior. Direct expression of feeling seems impossible or forbidden; instead, it is directed toward a safe object that neither judges nor rejects.

The video art consists of two parts. In the first, the school chair becomes an image of early discipline: from childhood, the child is trained to align their body with prescribed boundaries, posture, and rules of conduct. The second part shows the result of this internalization: the person now limits the direct expression of feelings themselves, directing the need for intimacy toward an object.

From an early age, children are taught how to sit, which emotions are appropriate to show, and which ones must be suppressed. Most often, this is done by parents and teachers out of good intentions, striving to ensure everything is well with the child. Yet, they themselves operate within the same rules and often do not know how to act correctly. Thus, norms are passed down from generation to generation, and each subsequent person internalizes them before they are capable of truly understanding them.

In this series of photographs, I juxtapose the restrained poses of children with the hands of adults to illustrate the internal tension and the assimilation of «adult» norms starting in childhood.