You Look Pretty When You’re Flushed: Reflections on Girls in Bar Bathrooms

“Girls In Bar Bathrooms,” like any art project, materialized in my mind as a somewhat immature and an overall—at least, I thought— stupid idea, destined to remain in the recesses of my cerebrum. What actually compelled me to enact the project into reality was no large realization, but among other things: a $35 (inflation!) disposable camera, my friend’s thick-set mascara, glittered cheekbones and glossed lips, three shots of tequila and a distinct lust for life found most frequently in the 20-or-so minutes prior to last call.

The project is simple: I go to different local bars with a camera and I take pictures of the girls in line for the bathroom, with their consent. I get the photos scanned and then I post them on the @girlsinbarbathrooms Instagram. Rinse, repeat. And, like many things perceived as simple in life and in art, any considerations of what these photographs could actually mean, were reserved for far after the easy act of my finger’s first click on the camera.

Some of the pictured local watering holes include the International (especially on Goth Night), Quarters Arcade Bar, Urban Lounge and Why Kiki. Although, any SLC bar is fair game—each bar attracts diff erent fashions, ages and aesthetics. Photography, to me, is a way to freeze not just moments or individuals, but personality and essence in time. The atmosphere of the bar itself is often what illuminates diversity amongst my photos.

“The experience of being a girl can be fruitful when left to the solitary plane of The Self, but it’s far more invigorating when shared.”

“Girls In Bar Bathrooms” is based on the idea that girlhood is not a gender but a shared space and time. The experience of being a girl can be fruitful when left to the solitary plane of The Self, but it’s far more invigorating when shared. The project, really, has never been and will never be about the distinction on the bathroom door. If it is a stance on gender, it’s the necessity of paying homage to the time-honored tradition of fi nding camaraderie with girls in bar bathrooms. Here, what it is to be a “girl” is a far less important discussion than what it means to experience solidarity with others, even if it takes place in the shitter.

Girlhood, when coupled with the bar bathroom, represents a place stuck at the intersection of confidently shapeshifting and living inside vulnerability. In this way, a bar bathroom is more than just a petri dish of God-knows-what bodily fluids, but is the space where you check your makeup, take a pee, take a dump (sorry), get sick to your stomach, cry, seek moments of reprieve, take a breath and yes, shoot a picture.

Some of the most potent examples of feminism I have experienced have occurred right before my eyes and right next to a reeking toilet in a bar bathroom, where no one seems to be a stranger. It’s a shared mantra that echoes across the unfortunate tiling choices found on many a public bathroom floor: “Yes, you look beautiful; yes, you can borrow mine; yes, I love you; yes, you’re my best friend; let’s dance, let’s get another drink; let’s do this again sometime.” It’s easy to assume that this phenomenon is due to the liquor. It’s not. I truly believe that girls crave an intimacy with one another that, at times, can only be accessed when there are no-holds-barred. (Get it? Barred?)

“I truly believe that girls crave an intimacy with one another that, at times, can only be accessed when there are no-holds-barred. “

In many ways, the project is about capturing that. I use a lousy camera—a Kodak M83, essentially a five-inch plastic, reusable disposable—and my fi lm choice varies. Most of the photos found here were shot on CineStill 800T, CineStill BWXX or Kodak UltraMax film, and most of the images are of people who remain anonymous to me in name and in life, who typically haven’t said much other than “I love this, I love this!” about the project, and I’d like to keep it that way.

Bars, girlhood, friendship: all these things are absolutely grimy, frequently imperfect and sometimes completely out-of-focus. The project is about representing that experience, not about getting the perfect shot, glossy and suitable for printing. It’s about preserving moments as normal as using the bathroom—something that by design, is meant to be fleeting—and as complex as instances of female friendship, which, at times, you may also feel slipping through your fingers. “Girls In Bar Bathrooms,” as simple, stupid, brilliant or complex as you like it, is an exercise in rendering something happy permanent. Otherwise, it would just go down the drain.

Check out more photos on Instagram at @girlsinbarbathrooms.

Read more about women’s empowerment here:
Guerrilla Girls Drop the F (Feminism) Bomb on SLC at UMOCA!
Gallery Stroll: Showing Dad a Thing or Two