You Better Work, 2024, pants, epoxy resin, concrete, rebar, thread steel rods, hardware nuts, woven labels, spotlights, projectors, speakers / two-channel video, various sizes / 10 minutes 30 seconds, installation view: Grand Tour, HEAD – Genève, Geneva, CH. Photo: Théa Giglio

Seven pairs of empty, epoxy resin-fixed pants take stances in space, framed by two mirroring walls onto which videos are projected. Each pair's individuality is marked by spotlights, distinct leg positions, and name-brand labels stitched to their rears. Their airy, ghost-like presence is contrasted by dense concrete feet, grounding them in place.

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Projected on one wall are larger-than-life characters in the form of talking pants, delivering female-empowerment monologues. On the mirroring wall, a choreography of hands performs typically invisible grooming actions on those same garments: smoothing, trimming loose threads, adjusting, zipping up and down. Pants—a garment historically associated with male dress—serve as the work's central motif.

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In You Better Work the Western archetype of feminine success is cast as "boss bitch", or in academic terms, "neoliberal feminist". Figures like Beyoncé, the Kardashians, Jennifer Lopez and Gwyneth Paltrow embody this trope. Their shared capital, power and influence set impossible standards, which promote the idea that work and determination alone can elevate any woman up the social ladder regardless of social positioning.

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While the first-channel video depicts charismatic characters giving simplistic yet persuasive advice, the second channel lays bare the typically invisible grooming actions — hinting at the labor that "success" demands but does its best to conceal. Projected face to face, the two channels expose the myths of individuality and meritocracy that neoliberal feminism propagates.

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"You better work"—advice or perhaps a threat—uncovers the hidden mechanisms of this ideal and the pressure it places on women to "have it all." Persuasive as they are, expressions of empowerment accumulate into expectations, adding yet another item to an already impossible list. As Beyoncé put it: "How we smart enough to make these millions / Strong enough to bear the children / Then get back to business."*​​

You Better Work, 2024, pants, epoxy resin, concrete, rebar, thread steel rods, hardware nuts, woven labels, spotlights, projectors, speakers / two-channel video, various sizes / 10 minutes 30 seconds, installation view: Grand Tour, HEAD – Genève, Geneva, CH. Photography: Théa Giglio

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