She Dreamt a Deep Dream

She Dreamt a Deep Dream (Usnila je dubok sanak) is a traditional Serbian song spoken from the perspective of a young girl who envisions restoring the nation through reproduction.

The work embodies a symbolic merging of the dichotomy between woman-as-sex-object and woman-as-perfect-wife-housewife-mother, the two dominant patriarchal constructs of the female gender role, whose function is to sustain the comfort and authority of the male part of the population.

This structure is engendered and reinforced through religion. After ten years of serving in a church choir, the artist found herself in conflict with the male voice within her. She stripped her old uniform, removing its fabric in the shape of a cross from the area of the reproductive organs.

Through this intervention, the deception of authority is exposed: what appeared sacred was in fact a universal uniform assigned to women, a reproductive role in service of national politics and the church that sustains it.