The project High Maintenance is centered around rituals that fall under the description self care. Through these rituals physical and mental health, beauty, and hygiene converge. In the pursuit of one ideal, something else is repelled - such as dirt, hair, dead skin, or pus. The inspiration for the project began with a fascination with how social structures and institutions are informed by collective identities, and in turn by how the self relates to its body. With focus directed towards the concept of self care I specifically wanted to examine how caregiving, as a traditionally feminine practice, correlates with a beauty standard increasingly concerned with going under the skin’s surface. Furthermore I want to raise the questions about how this affects female autonomy and whether it causes the self to alienate from its materiality. I use the staged portrait as a tool to examine the formation of femininity. Acts of care are constructed and distorted in an attempt to understand the relationship between care and autonomy. In this process performance, playmaking and collaboration holds a central role. To further my understanding of how collective identities and archetypes are formed and embodied I’m inspired by theorist Julia Kristeva’s formulations on abjection. Through reactions such as disgust or shame, the self expels that which transgresses its boundaries and is thereby shaped. The function of abjection is to counteract decay, much the same as the function of care. In my practice I generally give a lot of attention to the physical presentation of the photographs and materials. I work analogously with black-and-white fiber based paper, exposing it through various materials such as tights and frosted glass, as well as build my own frames. The themes of this project are inspired by highly contemporary references, often drawn from the internet, influencer content, and advertising, while the materials and craftsmanship, as well as composition and individual titles, partly refer to an older photographic, artistic, and ideological tradition. My intention is to create an understanding of how female archetypes are shaped, how gender permeates culture and institutions, and how this symbiotically changes over time. As mentioned, Julia Kristeva’s formulations on the concept of abjection have had a strong influence on my work. I would say that the question of the body’s boundaries, and to what extent the subject can shift these boundaries, is becoming increasingly relevant in society obsessed with self-improvement and health as a status symbol. The specific title of the milk bath photograph is The Belly and the Members - referencing a Roman fable about the construction of the state and suggesting that the subject’s perception of its own boundaries and internal hierarchies also influences other parts of society.