Reading in a Duck's Body

Research: Public Space and Cryptic Female Choice

I explore how public space is shaped by “territorial” acts (staring, whistling, catcalling, following, harassment…) that restrict the freedom of movement of certain bodies. In response to these experiences and observations, I engaged extensively with (eco-)feminist literature, allowing these texts to become an active presence within the project. From there, I became interested in bodily forms of resistance and self-defense, particularly through the concept of cryptic female choice: the hidden capacity of female animals to influence sex and reproduction. Long overlooked within patriarchal biological models that framed females as passive, this mechanism reveals forms of autonomy that often remain unseen.

“‘In those animals that have ... two sexes... the male stands for effective and active... and the female... for the passive.’ The stereotypes of female passivity and male vigour are as old as zoology itself.”

- Lucy Cooke’s notes on Aristotle

Material and Form

Through textile, wearable sculptures and animal-inspired forms, I work with felt wool, latex, epoxy, faux leather, and metal to create costume elements that disrupt the sexualization of bodies while imagining alternative and liberated forms of sexual expression. These
interventions interrupt the automatic script through which bodies are immediately categorized, shifting them instead into a different territory of meaning.