Prima Donna
Studio de Zolder, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
Curated by Natalie K. Haigh and Paulina Paciorek
Prima Donna was once an operatic term of respect, meaning “first lady” and the leading female voice; over time, it became a label used to undermine women who claim authority, ambition, or space. This exhibition reclaims the term by centering women not as muses, but as makers whose voices, presence, and demands shape the work itself. Prima Donnarestores the term to its original power: leadership, authorship, and unapologetic visibility.
NEE, video performance, 8 minutes, 2025
A body that speaks where words failed.
In this performance, the artist writes “no” seven times into her own skin, not with ink, but through touch, making the word rise in red.
Each “nee” marks a moment of not being heard. Of resistance, silenced.
A quiet act of reclaiming space. A body that remembers.
Women are constantly silenced.
You don’t want to listen to me, you just want to look at my body.
So if that’s all I’m good for, I’ll write it on there.
This performance is for all the times I couldn’t say no.
Or I did, and wasn’t heard.
No.
No to the time my professor told me:
“No one will want your art, they just want to fuck you.”
No to the man taking photos under my skirt in the metro.
No to the soldier screaming slurs at me outside the embassy at 3AM, gun in hand.
No to the boy groping me when I walked into that party.
No to the police who stopped their car just to stare.
No to the man who touched me on the bus.
And no to you.
That time you went too far.
That time I said no, seven times.
