philia

"philia: a family emancipated from the blood ties." Deleuze

Elastic bandages are used for chest binding to flatten the appearance of the chest. Binding is a practice used by some trans and gender-nonconforming people as part of their everyday lives.

philia emerged from a mutual experience in which bodies collide, bind, and attach, and borders are gradually transgressed. It developed through eight hours of nudity, touch, tactility, convergence, and intimacy. Being outside the norms of sex and sexuality "ties" this family.

The video emerged from questions such as: Can we share the experience of binding our chests, an intimate part of our daily lives? If so, how can we practise it? How do the presence of the camera and the act of making this experience public affect the safe space we want to create?

The video opens with images of flat-chested, ambiguously gendered people, presenting binding as part of transgender life. The performers then begin to undress and bind their chests together. Within the bonds of philia, desire, kinship, incest, and trust follow a queer path of solidarity. As strips of bandage "bind" the bodies, the camera itself becomes a site of binding, travelling among bodies that blend, combine, and separate.