Catholic nuns were required to wear linen breast binder under their outfits. The rationale was that binding the breasts of nuns would reduce distraction and encourage faithful obedience to abstinence.
Women have used binding to help them pass as a male in male dominated societies. Such as Pope Joan taking on the guise as a man to rise through the ranks of the Church.
In this particular work I have tried to capture the continious binding of the chest, it is rather like a never ending cycle, the monotony of something that has to be done in order to protect an Identity.
I think further expoloration into making a performance piece is becoming more interesting to me, it could be a work in progress.
Chest Binding by Julie Dodds. Music by Hildegard Von Bingen (1098-1179) a female composer.
