Alexandra Hangan Sets 41-50 Review

Set 49 introduces a literal interpretation of spinal tension. Popa constructed life-size casts of human spines using braided hemp rope soaked in resin. Three models wore these rope-spines externally, strapped over their clothes like exoskeletal errors.

During the 4-minute exposure, the figure (a dancer from the Bucharest National Ballet) shifts her weight from one foot to the other approximately 40 times. The result is a ghostly blur where the torso remains semi-visible but the legs dissolve into vertical streaks.

The garden’s heating system failed three days before the shoot, resulting in frost on the glass panes and a temperature of -4°C inside the hothouse. Models wore no outerwear aside from the prosthetic ferns. alexandra hangan sets 41-50

Hangan asked each model to bring a garment belonging to their mother. The morning shoot treated the garment as a sacred relic (gentle handling, respectful draping). The evening shoot had the model destroy the garment—cutting, burning, or soaking it in muddy water.

Breaking from pure photography, Set 44 introduces a 47-second silent video loop repeated across three square screens. The scene: seven individuals dressed in identical gray jersey shifts sit on plastic chairs in a fluorescent-lit corridor. Set 49 introduces a literal interpretation of spinal tension

The critical reception was polarized. The Fashionography called it “unwatchable genius,” while other outlets decried it as gratuitous. Hangan defended the work in a rare Instagram statement: “Set 43 is not about shock. It is about what we refuse to see in our own biochemistry.”

Set 41 opens the sequence with a jarring juxtaposition: delicate, hand-embroidered lace submerged in saline humidity. Hangan collaborated with textile artist Ioana Stancu to create garments that were intentionally left to corrode during the 14-hour shoot. During the 4-minute exposure, the figure (a dancer

No discussion of is complete without addressing the visceral punch of Set 43. Shot in a dismantled abattoir outside Cluj-Napoca, the set explores lactation, iron deficiency, and the industrialization of the female body.