Open Collections

Abstract

Close your eyes. Wait...never mind. Keep your eyes open. Recall a time you were in a public space - a street, park, plaza, etc. Are you seeing this memory through your own eyes or are you looking at yourself? How do you feel? What details do you remember? Is this a good memory? Has that experience had a lasting effect on you? These are the stories of women as they try to answer these questions in my quest to explore perception and embodiment of space through film. And, a research into phenomenology as a methodology to understand how the embodied experiences of women influence their occupation of public space in a patriarchal society. An occupation that should go beyond the basic concerns of safety and begin to examine the multiplicity and thickness of experience. So, I invite you to imagine a future where the necessary societal shifts have occurred and safety is not our main and only concern for how women feel and use space. This is a personal project. What is a woman’s embodied experience of public space in this future? This film is a look at one possible version of that – my version – based on my experiences, memories, aspirations, dreams, imagination. This is a feminist thesis.