KIRSTY MACKAY, UNITED KINGDOM
UNITED KINGDOM: WHAT’S SO BAD ABOUT PINK?
“My favourite colour was yellow” is the title of a photo series about girls in the UK by Glasgow-born photographer Kirsty Mackay, and a nod to her own biography.
For some, the color pink, dominating in Mackay’s pictures, has become a symbol of a consumption-driven manipulation of girls. The protest organization ‘Pinkstinks’, for example, criticizes the industry for tempting girls (and their parents) with products that reinforce obsolete gender stereotypes.
© Kirsty Mackay (Institute)
Mackay herself points out that pink hasn’t always been a symbol for femininity. In the 19th century, white was the recommended color for babies. Or blue for girls and pink for boys. It is only since the 1980s, according to US professor Jo B. Paoletti, that pink has become a strongly feminine color and “has reached the level of moral imperative in the age group of three to seven”.
But is it really a problem when little Flo sweeps the floor in front of her pink playhouse with a pink broom, wearing a pink dress? Kirsty Mackay has a more relaxed view on the issue. She states that the girls she photographed were very proud of their pink bedrooms and that the pink phase has become a right of passage. Most of them would come out the other side before adolescence anyway.
Curriculum Vitae: Kirsty Mackay (Institute)
© Kirsty Mackay (Institute)