To a certain extent, human beings have always been victims of their own economic, social, ideological and religious structures, constantly created throughout all civilizations that have followed since the dawn of History. Without any doubt, the most dramatic, unfair and also most important in quantitative terms, is the economic structure, that is to say, poverty. Those who suffer poverty, are really aware of how their intellectual and emotional capacities become weaker, turning them into a quasi-vegetative state in extreme situations. Nevertheless, the number of victims caused by ideological reasons (using this term in its broadest sense) is even higher, as it affects all human beings, regardless of their socio-economic condition. This relates to different beliefs that have a profound effect on people's minds and are turned into real axioms whose acceptance implies unwarranted resignation and self-sacrifice, ruling their lives psychologically. In this sense, each historical period is a hostage of its own slavery. Nowadays, the great steps forward in the field of science are contributing to our quality of life improvement, bringing an optimistic point of view that is leading us to believe in the possibility of stopping the ageing process. As this is triggering a market (previously inconceivable) that covers not only cosmetic surgery but also cosmetic products, the result is the invention of a young and slender human prototype that has gradually found its way into developed societies. So far, women have been the main targets of this message, although men are also quietly integrating into this prototype. In her first creative foray into this topic, Lourdes Carcedo tackles female dependence on aesthetic roles as an issue that turns women into fashion victims; fashion that, to a certain extent, is no longer a trend as it has become permanent. The author has chosen the parodic iconography in order to bring out the servitude which so many women are subjected to, as a result of the internalisation of some arguments that have been massively spread by the mass media and the advertising world: cloned women arranged in a quasi-military formation, a repertoire of torsos on hangers that emphasizes their objectualisation, beauty products bottled as if they were Nouveau réalisme objects. The use of manipulated photographs, together with objectual accumulations and their presentation in translucent containers (as well as its own thematic statement), relate them to the plastic speech of Paloma Navares. Lourdes Carcedo tackles this topic in her own sarcastic way (not so dramatically), as it is the case of the photograph entitled 'I just got crow's feet'. References to different aspects that have a bearing on the articulation of that canonical female body building, are summarized here by means of metamorphosed dolls images that have been materially adapted to each format and support. Another wink to the anatomical women adaptation to current stereotypes that, above all, turn them into fragile bodies.

Javier Hernando Carrasco