This work starts with a simple premise, that public spaces are rarely neutral. As Leslie Kern notes in her book Feminist City:

Public spaces are not designed for female bodies. There is little consideration for women¹

Taking this as a starting point, this project critically rejects the tacit normalisation of fear and discomfort that shape women’s urban experiences. Using a feminist phenomenological framework, the work traces micro-movements, shifts in posture and embodied self defence rituals. Drawing on Henri Bergson’s notion of duration in Time and Free Will, the durational format mirrors the non-linear, elastic experience of emotional time, where moments of fear or alertness stretch, repeat, and intensify.

Repetition and stillness reveal unnoticed gestures of daily alertness, while blurred figures and bodily stillness metaphorise dissociation and hyper awareness, echoing Sara Ahmed’s notion of orientation. Through self-observation the project shows how women craft temporary safety within emotionally charged spaces.