nelle higgins

Sunday, April 12th, I opened (and closed) my senior capstone honors project, For Her: An Exploration of Femininity.

I feel like I have been preparing to create an art piece like this my whole life. I have always been drawn to art that highlights how nuanced it is to be female presenting in a world built upon gender bias and conformity. From listening to Dar Williams in the car with my mom, to dancing to Ribs on my friend’s roof my sophomore year of high school; this project has always been floating around in the back of my head.

The real genesis of this project was coming to Hartt and realizing how hard it is to be female presenting in this industry. I watch my female presenting peers work so hard and be so talented, just to be dismissed and overlooked. It is so unbelievably frustrating. Especially when some male presenting actors get rewarded and worshipped for doing half the work we do. It is simply a fact that in every industry, women have to work 10x as hard to be acknowledged and respected in the same way men are.

So I thought, why don’t we just cut them out of the equation? Why wait for them to choose us? Why not create something only for female presenting actors, lead by an only female presenting creative team, highlighting scenarios female presenting people experience? I wanted to create a working environment filled with support between female presenting artists instead of competition. Thanks to the love and support from my cast, crew, and creative team; I can say with confidence that we achieved that.

I have never been so proud of something in my entire life. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I love you all.

This is For Her 🤍