“At the very limit of life and death, of the organic and the machine, the prosthesis introduces within sex and sexuality not only the ontology of becoming and dispossession, but also the politics of somatic drag.”  Paul B. Preciado, Countersexual Manifesto (2000)

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EXIDERMIS is a curation project and clothing shop, run through Depop, in which I have printed quotes and images on second-hand shapewear and vintage undergarments using the sublimation technique. In sublimation, as opposed to heat-press, the ink is integrated into the fabric rather than printed on top of it. 

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Through EXIDERMIS I tried to explore the boundary between organic and synthetic parts of the body, and trying to construct a ‘second skin’ that is intended as ravewear/lingerie/costumerie. Though the aesthetic is largely inspired by @stomachofyourdeadsoulmate, my choice of source garments as well as prints is very intentionally focused on the relations between body/environment and body/body. 

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Shapewear particularly is a source of intrigue, as it is intended to be hidden away underneath ‘actual’ clothes as a silent modifier of the female appearance. What happens when we take these symbols of the patriarchal fixation with body shapes, and exteriorise them? What happens when we make the morphing of the body — the slimming of waists, pushing up of cleavage, engorging of skin to and fro — a visible performance? The stretchy, breathable fabric combined with its skin-coloured hues adds to this idea of the modified body. 

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Sources for text range from posthumanist, surrealist, and psychoanalytical academia to classic Tumblr posts and news references. Images are from both memes and art films with no distinguishment. The second-skin garment functions almost as a social media dashboard, except this time, the body is the user profile. 

The last collection premiered in June 2023 as a sort of "merch" for the conceptual groundwork of I'm Like a Pdf but a Girl. For this collection, I collaborated with artists Panna Hyun and Sofya Rakitina in order to make graphics for the garments, The garments also featured quotes from Aaron Schwartz, Legacy Russell, Alexandra Elbakyan, and William Gibson. 
 

EXIDERMIS has been featured in Bricks Magazine, Someone Please Hold Me, Kaltblut, and more. It has also been showcased at Riposte's vendor stalls. In May 2022, I additionally organized a pop-up called "Persimmon" with 14 other student artists in Mayfair.