the files of unpleasant women
This project begins with a refusal: to treat unpleasantness as a flaw in need of correction. Instead, it treats it as a practice: sometimes chosen, sometimes thrust upon a woman by the simple fact of her refusal to disappear or agree.
Each file in this archive holds a portrait and a question:
How has your unpleasantness already served yourself and others?
The question is deliberately past tense. Because she already has been and she knows the cost. But she also knows what it gave back; to herself, to society, her kids, other women, to a room that needed one person to say the thing no one else would say.
A file, by definition, is a record. It holds evidence, that is kept. These files are an act of keeping what has too often has been discarded as difficult, dismissed as shrill or hysterical, deleted from the official account of who counts as a good woman.
These files insist that the unpleasantness was and - now more than ever - IS, in fact, the point.
And that the women described as difficult or inconvenient were and still are - now more than ever and more often than not - simply the first ones to notice something was wrong. And impolite enough to say so out loud.
This project is ongoing and will continue to collect images and stories/statements of more unpleasant women.
You know one? You are one? Contact me!
photo@teresanovotny.com
Artist
(Editors note: Artist statement coming soon.
Sometimes respecting your own boundaries means one has to prioritize, and things have to be postponed. To some people this already could come across as unpleasant. It isn’t. Just focussed and gorgeous.
Teresa)
Artist
I build ritual and space around the intense mood swings of my cycle. Develop ways to welcome the unpleasant feelings. Practice reading the signals so that when the looming, dark wall of pain arrives I know not to scramble for the shore but instead to dive in. Put on emo music or watch a sad movie to open the tear ducts. Look at photos of loved ones who have died. Paint my fingernails black and avoid mirrors – they are full of lies on days like these. Wear a particular perfume to warn those close to me not to approach me with worldly matters. I am busy, communing with other realms. The wave always passes, resisting it is a sure way to get slam-dunked.
Artist, Activist, Researcher
I don’t want to be unpleasant. I’m happy to be inconvenient, outrageous, or disobedient—though the word itself leaves me speechless and thus unheard rather than outrageous—but I don’t want to be unpleasant, and I’m not that way by choice. Being labeled as unpleasant is like a main course I don’t want to eat because I can’t stomach it, yet I have to pay for it. Taking a stand always comes at a price.
TCM Expert
After all, it's called AnchorMAN and not AnchorWOMAN." That was a sentence that accompanied me in my early professional life. I used to be a television journalist, and my then-boss believed that young blonde women could do good work behind the camera, but in front of the camera, men should present the hard facts. Well, that actually motivated me rather than stopped me. I have two sons, and I want to show them what women are capable of. I want to teach them how to interact with all people, of all genders. And that sometimes makes me very uncomfortable. So what!
www.seelenkueche.at
Healing practitioner and expert in holistic health and self-healing
Being unpleasant is part of my job; I see it as my duty to address issues that most people consider taboo, and I believe it’s extremely important for our society to tackle such topics. This kind of confrontation leads more quickly to an honest answer—one that is, in turn, perceived as unpleasant.
https://www.susannehof.com/
Activist, Author, Communication Expert
For me, “unpleasantness” as a woman in a patriarchal society means being direct, saying what I think, and living the way I want. It is precisely this directness that has saved me—not just once, but countless times—from unintentionally locking myself into an (invisible) cage out of politeness, conforming to gender stereotypes, or “because that’s just the way it’s supposed to be.” This directness, along with frequently voicing my anger without regard for my own image—far too many women want to please and speak strictly in the subjunctive—has de facto become the foundation of my activist work. I love that I can be free. Though, I don’t call it being unpleasant; I call it being unapologetic. Unapologetically me. Always.
https://nunukaller.com/
https://upliftnow.at/
Production manager & literary scientist
I quite accurately remember the one situation in my life which led me to unleash my inner jaguar – it was a turning point in my life: a shift from outward attention to inward attention. I recentered - this time within myself - and found my home. As a result, I've turned clearer, more transparent and honest to myself and others which makes everything easier to everyone. There is a deeper sense for discernement - its source is the heart. This is my story of finding self-respect.
Trainer, Human Rights Consultant
If I understand ‘unpleasantness’ as moments of discomfort, friction or exclusion, I would say these experiences have fundamentally shaped both my perspective and my work.
On a personal level, they have sharpened my sensitivity to what often remains unspoken – the subtle ‘in-between spaces’ where inequality or bias quietly unfold. This has given me not only awareness, but also a sense of attentiveness and responsibility: to notice, to name and to question.
For others, this translates into how I work: creating spaces where people feel seen in their complexity, where difficult conversations can happen without immediate defensiveness, and where discomfort becomes a starting point for reflection.
In that sense, what was once unpleasant has become a resource – not romanticised, but something that informs my commitment to equity, dialogue and social change, and allows me to bridge perspectives and hold tension.
www.melindatamas.com
Professor of International Organizational Communication and Sustainability Communication
For me, being unpleasant means not trying to please everyone.
Instead, it means sparking conversations, waking people up, and triggering ethical reflection - the first step toward behavior change. Take my passion for biking. In Australia, biking is a sport, not everyday transport. People wear full lycra gear. So, when I biked to uni in a dress apparently going to work, it upset drivers. I got beeps and yells from passing cars. But it made them think: about their own mobility choices, about what feels "normal," and why biking isn't seen as real transport.
https://www.wu.ac.at/en/institute-for-strategic-organizational-communication/about-us/team/franzisca-weder
https://www.linkedin.com/in/franzisca-weder-491b9257/
The images were taken with a large format camera.
All images © Teresa Novotny/Bildrecht, 2026