In 19th-century Paris, Dr. Charcot exposed the bodies of hysteric patients in the name of research and care. To dismantle hierarchies of knowledge, students use photography and self-narration as scholarly practice, reinventing gender performance as a site of agency. They stage madness as embodied responses to conditions that render marginalized subjects unbelievable, sexually scrutinized, and epistemically suspect. Asserting bodily autonomy, the images do more than resist the clinical gaze. Performance becomes a way of knowing, where sexuality, identity, and care are negotiated on the subject’s terms, reimagining the clinic as a contested site rather than unquestioned authority.
