“I am nobody, and everybody,” says Princess Pea, an anonymous performance artist who has been spotted at various events since 2009.
Sharing a host of interesting images on her Instagram page, Princess Pea attempts to bring to light issues she feels are important, all while concealing her identity with a large, round headgear.
Speaking about why she feels the need to stay anonymous, she shares, “I have been working over the years to understand ‘perfection’ and the notion of beauty, which is a societal pressure that women are more subjected to. I did not want to be at the forefront; I wanted the issues to be the focus. As soon as you present yourself, it becomes more about who you are and how well you fit into society’s standards. When I started, I had no clue that it would be like this—that I would stay anonymous, keep my identity hidden, and only follow this path. It just happened.”
Her artist name, ‘Princess Pea’, she says, is the result of scribbles on the many fashion magazines, from when she was in college.
“I disliked how perfect they made the models look, and felt like there were other ways to talk about beauty. Everyone is beautiful in their own way. When I was in college, the idea of beauty in fashion magazines really affected me. I used to draw a big circle over the faces [of models] with two eyes. I asked a sculptor friend to help me make it [the headgear]. We used to wet the clay every day, and suddenly one day, we saw a plant sprout from it.”
Her headgear, she says, is a protective shield for her. “You protect yourself from random comments, from people. It makes me feel safe.”
Over the years, Princess Pea has interviewed a number of women (who have also donned the clay pea-head to mask their identities) she has come across over the course of her life.
“I started interviewing different women and asked them if they want to wear it [the headgear] to keep their identity hidden. It is not that they are afraid to be at the forefront; they prefer being in a protective space to talk about important and delicate issues that are never discussed in a society like ours,” she concludes.