silver nails poke delicate skin. bared skin. an in-between of luxury and pain. nails can fixate things; they create permanence. yet, when used as an accessory, say a piece of jewellery, as it becomes part of the human form, it transforms into a malleable substance. molten silver. spikes and chains merge into orbs, circles and oblongs. this new inconstancy is found in the definition of gender…its fluidity is just like molten silver. femininity is meta – neither round nor sharp but something in between. as photographer ola rebisz contemplates the concept of everchanging femininity, she creates a minimalist landscape of flesh, hair and silver that morphs into different expressions and versions of itself.  silver earrings weigh down an earlobe; necklaces nestle into the concave spaces of a collarbone or enclose a slender neck. using gunther uecker’s nail-studded still lifes as the inspiration for her work rebisz reflects the duality of his work, emphasising the importance of a shift in perspective. when viewed from the front, uecker’s work seems stiff and brutal: nails hammered into wood or canvas, a forest of cold metal. when viewed from the top the nails create patterns that move with the light, like waves that catch the sun. in the same way, femininity is a question of perspective, which rebisz emphasises through the use of molecular jewellery pieces that find reinterpretation in hair that is at one point wet and curly, then sleeked back into a tight bun or hangs loose in long, shaggy strands. in a time where gender and beauty find new meaning in the reinvention of their marked etymological origin, rebisz’s work seeks relevance in the possibilities of changeableness that it offers. while we hammer nails into walls and wood, fix things and mend things, the nature of the nail is tied to our associations with it. if we change our perspective, a nail can become a thing of beauty, a piece of art and an extension of our self-expression. being is an act of reinvention and impermanence. words by carolin haertter