Lyuda Didovets

THE IDENTITY PROJECT

For one week Lyuda became Sarah, an Amish girl living through a period of her life known as "rumspringa". During this week she sewed her own Amish outfit, consisting of a long skirt, long-sleeved shirt, and bonnet. Doing her best to not use technology or electricity, she did work under the light of candles and washed her clothes by hand. Lyuda also kept a journal of what it was like having to make a decision choosing her way of life and the many thoughts going through her mind during this time. One of the greatest lessons of the Amish religion is that of humility, and one Lyuda got to experience first hand by living as Sarah this enitire week.

THE PIGGYBACKING PROJECT

Lyuda set up a body print making workshop in a residence hall, inviting students to make their own prints with their bodies. The main theme was the heart chakra which is green and the chakra of 2008. This project allowed people to explore the different paintings they could make using their bodies and encouraged looking into new ways to utilise one's body. In in this project Lyuda was piggybacking artist Annie Sprinkle, who made beautiful breast and belly prints.

PICK UR PLASTIC

For this performance, Lyuda Didovets stood on a black plastic crate in a popular food location at her school. Wearing a black sports bra and black shorts, she also had a strip of black paper over her eyes, making it so that she was unable to see the people around her. On a table next to her was a sign asking for those passing by to help her choose parts of her body that should be altered and circle or mark them using markers. Another sign was an advertisement from a local radio state that read "PICK UR Plastic" and described a contest in which one of the possible prizes was $10,000 of plastic surgery. The main point she was trying to convey wasn't that she hated her body or supported the contest, rather that we are being pushed to want to change our bodies and believe that they aren't pretty or skinny enough. Instead of being taught to love our bodies and appreciate what they do for us we cringe at the thought of showing them off and some of us even go so far as to starve or abuse our bodies to change them.

Please note that the following advertisement is REAL. It is not manipulated in any way by the artist:


In her peformance, Didovets claims that, "The contest is back! Offering an even greater amount of plastic surgery to those lucky enough to care."