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2023 marked my third consecutive year exhibiting at Sibiu Contemporary Art Festival. By then, Sibiu had already become a familiar and meaningful context for my work — a space where I felt understood and carefully placed.
That year, I sent the colorful nipple necklace from the X Point collection — a manifesto of freedom and femininity. Unlike the darker silver pieces, this one carried brightness, diversity, unapologetic joy. It spoke about the right to exist visibly in one’s own body. About softness without shame. About reclaiming what has been censored.
What moved me most, however, was not only the piece itself — but how it was exhibited.
It was placed next to a photograph of an Arab woman whose face had been disfigured by acid. The juxtaposition was striking, almost painful. Two radically different realities sharing the same visual space.
On one side: my world — a European woman who can move freely, who can create art about nipples, who can publicly question taboos without fearing for her life.
On the other: a world in which speaking out can lead to mutilation. Where resisting male authority can cost you your face — or your life.
The contrast was disturbing. And necessary.
In that placement, the necklace stopped being only about censorship in a symbolic sense. It entered a broader, harsher conversation about women’s bodies as territories of control. About visibility as risk. About freedom as privilege.
Diana Pantea once again understood and felt the message of my work. She positioned it within a contemporary and controversial context that amplified its meaning far beyond aesthetics. It was not a decorative decision — it was curatorial courage.
For that, I am deeply grateful.
SCAF 2023 reminded me that art does not exist in isolation. It exists in dialogue — sometimes uncomfortable, sometimes painful, always revealing. And when placed with intention, it can expose the distance between worlds we too easily forget are not equally free.
Congratulations to the team for the sensitivity and strength of this edition.