Feral

My mum used to come into my room and say Your room smells like a feral animal on heat
How do you even know the smell of the heat

When I got kicked out because she found out that I was taking birth control I used to stay at my then boyfriend’s flat after sleeping here and there for a few days
He’d cuddle me and say you smell bad take a shower And I’d be so embarrassed

I feel like somebody’s watching me whenever I take a bath so I’d always take a shower it’s quicker

I’ve been through many rooms with many smells and many people
But I know for sure whenever I pass the streets where rich people live it smells like nothing else on the earth It smells like fabric softeners cookies and security

So now I’m obsessed good detergents

Takuya’s room smelled like baby soap, cigarettes and old books

Now Takuya is not here and whenever I want to make guys feel weirded out I ask if I smell bad

Do I smell bad Do I smell feral

(2022)


이주연은 사회적 고립, 국경을 넘는 친밀감, 노동 불안정, 기술 발전, 산업 독성학과 몸 정치학 등을 포괄한 광범위한 리서치와 인터뷰를 바탕으로, 분석적이면서도 시적인 논픽션 무빙 이미지를 연출한다.

Jooyeon Lee works with analytical yet poetic non-fiction moving image with expansive research and interviews to capture urban alienation, intimacy across borders, labour precarity, technological progress, industrial toxicology and body politics.


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