Mundane, private, visible: Performing ordinary bodies in Intimate Exposure Projects

The physical body locates an intersection of public communication and private subjectivity that is particularly interesting when used to convey messages of lived experience to the public through art. This article creates a definition for ‘Intimate Exposure Projects’ (IEPs), which seek to use a body coded as private to represent personal experience to a public viewer. Exploring fine art photography, live performance and the media, this article argues that, despite some crucial problems with feminist thought and intersectional identity, these IEPs are evidence of people’s desire (particularly women) to break down damaging notions of a body unsuitable for public view in order to make bodily narratives less fictional.