Francesca Vella

‘nolite te bastardes carborundorum’ is a self-portrait photographic series which tells the story of many females who have been cat-called or misjudged and prejudiced because of their gender. It follows the male gaze and how women are seen in the eyes of the opposite gender. Inspired by Margaret Atwood’s ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ the series focuses on some of the cat-calling insults that women must hear and shows how we, as women shouldn’t ‘let those bastard’s grind us down’ which is the Latin translation of the title of the series.

Her collection Up Next was created together with a Attn GAN (text to image algorithm). The text is based on the titles of YouTube video trends and suggestions on the 8th of March, women's day. It reflects on personal algorithmic bubbles, gender bias that was prevalent in the beauty industry throughout 2020.