Juliana
Rico

Involuntary Response Series

For at least 30 minutes everyday, over the course of 30 days, she ran. Beginning from the same location, each day a new route was explored—north, east, south, west. The duration was dependent on her physical and mental strength that day, that moment. Unique hand-stitched maps plotted the daily journey and photographs documented her body's reaction; sweat.

Involuntary Response Series investigates the body in both surface and function to scrutinize social perceptions of gender and femininity. Responding to the adage 'a lady never breaks a sweat' and the social stigma attached, the works serve as a quiet but firm confrontation to the male gaze. The series works to contest the antiquated notions of how women are presumed to be. Mixing a detached scientific approach with a quotidian and personal subject matter the works create subjective maps that examine emotions felt, places encountered, and experiences lived.