As society acknowledged a legitimate challenge to the patriarchy in the wake of the #MeToo movement, the Turkish lingerie brand Else teamed up with photographer Emine Gozde Sevim to launch the social campaign #LikeNoOneElse at Parasol Projects’ 208 Bowery pop-up location.
Also from Turkey but based in New York, Sevim studied sociology and international relations in addition to photography at Bard College. “All of my work is of documentary nature,” she explains. “Else was looking to do a social campaign and a PR agent suggested my name. It was a perfect match.”
Understandably, the lingerie brand wanted to speak out on behalf of women’s rights — the organization was founded by a woman, Ela Onur, and the merchandise is made for women, by women, from a workforce composed of 90% females. Lingerie can be a problematic domain for feminism: the majority of non-nude images accused of objectifying the female body often show women wearing only lingerie, stereotypes that make it easy to associate lingerie with the male gaze. But as Sevim puts it: “lingerie is always for women, we do things ourselves.”
Sevim was given carte blanche by Else. She gathered six subjects and portrayed them through classic black and white photographs and intimately filmed conversations about their experience of femininity. “They liked having a say without being famous or being a victim.”
If it weren’t for the subtle hashtag and wall text, it would be difficult to make any connection with the lingerie brand behind the project. The result was a calm and quiet journey into the lives of six women.
Else × Emine Gozde Sevim, #LikeNoOneElse @ 208 Bowery · August 1, 2018