Julieanna Preston, “DD: Holding Up the Girls” [journal article and 5 original performance videos]

Journal of Architecture: Special Issue on Jennifer Bloomer, vol 28, no 6, 2023, pp. 925-946.

This two-part essay bridges the gap, at the clasp, and gasp, of the

sternum, the cleavage, a hollow — between the lived and dynamic

reality of having breasts and that of imagining, creating, and navigating

complex, fluid spaces. Such spaces are constructed, delineated, prescribed,

and housed by an architecture — literally and metaphorically.

An engineers’ mathematical calculations, modelling tools, static loads,

posts and beams, and moments of inertia are inadequate to uphold

these fleshy, fatty, leaky, budding, aroused, and sagging glandular

tissues — a pair of amorphous and asymmetric orbs cantilevering off

one’s pectorals. Not even the elastic-ridden ‘separating’, ‘uplifting’,

and ‘disciplining’ structure of the brassiere can squelch the life-long

relationship between my ‘girls’ and the rest of the world.

The whole issue can be sourced Open Access HERE.

And HERE is a link to a PDF of my article, noting it is a large file.