Smoke and Mirrors (or Tongue in Cheek) reclaims the cigar—a symbol of masculine power—through humor and bodily subversion. The woman shapes her tongue to mimic the cigar, transforming a phallic emblem of wealth and dominance into a gesture that is both sensual and absurd. The work challenges patriarchal authority by using the body and performance to mock traditional power structures. The title underscores illusion and performance, highlighting how femininity can appropriate, distort, and destabilize symbols of control, turning them into tools of defiance, satire, and empowerment.