THE DIRTY SECRET 2023
Performance introduced by a story.
Dress and train made from the collection of jeans destined for the dump.
Mask created from denim fabric.
Duration: 32 Minutes
MACT/CACT Bellinzona
17.03.- 18.03.2023
In The Dirty Secret, Jacomella Bonola dissects the cultural mythology surrounding denim, the global symbol of democracy and durability, to expose the environmental and social violence embedded in fast fashion. The performance features a gown and mask made entirely from discarded jeans, their long train dragging the weight of industrial waste and human exploitation.
Through movement and material, the artist confronts the audience with the hidden costs of beauty and convenience. The work stages a powerful juxtaposition: the seductive texture of denim against its toxic consequences. By reclaiming this ubiquitous material from landfills, Jacomella Bonola repositions the female body not as a consumer image but as a site of resistance and awareness. The Dirty Secret resonates as both an elegy and a protest, a choreography of disillusionment and moral reckoning.
Credits: Stills
© Video: James Dudley
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0f0_mYo25ks&t=72s