Having tea with Gilbert and George, 1998. Drawing.
Having tea with Gilbert and George, 1998. Photograph taken by George.
Dress Up Doll 6/6, 1998. Photography, 170 x 50 cm. Photography by Yolanda Withaar. The School Uniform Project resulted in a series of 6 life-sized photographs called 'Dress-Up-Doll', starting with a photo in vest and knickers, dressing up to the complete uniform.
School Girl, 1998 Photography by Yolanda Withaar
Real English Picnic, 1999. Photography. In a performance in Tonbridge Wells, 'The Real English Picnic', Marenka and her chums go on a picnic and engage in boys' games, such as climbing trees, making a fire eating marsh mallows and smoking cigarettes.
Real English Picnic, 1999. Photography. Six photos were bound in a harmonica book, called, Real English Picnic.
Tomo on the street, 2000 In 2000 Marenka was awarded a Startstipendium from Fond BKVB that took her to Japan. She researched the school uniform culture in Tokyo, which led to a photo series of Japanese boys dressed up as school girls.
Tomo, 2000. Photography, 150 x 200 cm.
When she first moved to the U.K, Marenka dressed up in a British school uniform for an entire year. She wanted to explore the native culture by becoming an English school girl. Whilst researching subjects such as adult-child perception, identity and voyeurism, Marenka kept a diary in which she recorded people’s reactions to her appearance. The reactions varied depending on her surroundings, for example on the street, in a shop, outside a nightclub, and at university. During this year she started a friendship with artist duo Gilbert and George, who encouraged her project. Following this, Marenka continued her research by dressing up as a school boy, changing the focus to gender identity.