„Are you afraid of the Cat Lady?“ appears as a live charcoal drawing performance combined with augmented reality. Through scanning AR codes, a shifting relationship between surface and body emerges. An X-ray-like image reveals the artist’s spine transforming into a cat’s tail, while disembodied cat’s eyes observe the scene in augmented reality, subtly destabilizing the direction of the gaze.
The figure of the Cat Lady functions as a cultural projection. Traditionally depicted as a lonely, eccentric woman surrounded by cats, she has increasingly become a pejorative label for women without children, regardless of whether they own cats. The question is directed not only at conservative male fears of female independence, but also at women who resist or reject being associated with this figure. While for some the Cat Lady remains a stigma or taboo, for others she stands for autonomy, self-determination, and the refusal of prescribed social roles.
See also https://edition.cnn.com/2024/07/27/us/cat-lady-explained-cec and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_lady
“Are you afraid of the Cat Lady?” will be shown:
• July 3-5, 2026: FAQ – female and others, as part of the festival 48 Stunden Neukölln, at the Polymedialer Ponyhof, Berlin.
