TANJA OSTOJIĆ

Être une princesse / Being a Princess (1998) is a conceptual art photo project produced at the property of Château de Beaumanoir, in Bretagne, France. It is an edition of 11 colour photographs that I conceptualised and that were captured by Jean-Pierre Corbel, who was a family photographer of my hosts, Cont and Comtesse de Saint Pierre. In 10 of the photos I was posing as a lady, and in one of them as a gentleman, dressed in outfits found in the castle. Photos were then printed, framed in the original frames from the castle, and exhibited inside the Pink-Salon of Château de Beaumanoir, as part of the contemporary art exhibition Utopia curated by Robert Fleck (from July till September ’98). 

I was posing inside the bedroom, in the bathroom, next to the cradle, in the dining salon, at the large staircase or the castle, as well as, in front of it, in the park, dressed in day and night garments of Cont Saint-Pierres’ aunt, while, as well, at one of the photos, dressed as a gentleman with a tiny mustache and a discrete sideburns in front of the stables. With this project, I was traversting from my socialist, working class Yugoslav background into the identity of French aristocracy, dealing with my own identity, playing with my host’s family tradition, class and gender roles, and the ‘dreams that every little girl has’.