Querel, Melina

This thesis explores how the movement, presentation and interaction of the body are learned through one’s identifier; gender, culture, nationality, race, religion, and social class. Expected norms to one’s mannerisms and way of being in the world is determined and controlled by each of these identifiers. Through my practice-led-research with my body as a tool, I explore social norms which limit my agency over my haptic and intuitive embodied way of moving. With my Defence work, Subversive Training Videos, a diptych large-screen video installation with an unconventional bench, I aim to unlearn and challenge social norms linked to social behaviours.