Layering Intimacy Publication
artistic research, writing, editorial design
March-June 2025
Writing and publication design for Layering Intimacy, a collaboration with Ache C. Wang. This publication documents our research, process, and the collaborative making of the project.
The dudou was traditionally handmade by women for their husbands and children, with motifs drawn from mythology and folklore meant to protect the wearer. This intimate undergarment has long been associated with fertility, protection, and prosperity.
The writing presents our reinterpretations of the dudou’s symbolic meanings. We asked: how can its protective meanings be carried into the present? Rather than relying on traditional symbolism, we explored protection through storytelling, care, and connection—with each other, and with broader diasporic and marginalized communities.
By making dudous for each other as opposed to for husbands or children, our act challenges the heteronormative, fertility-centered legacy of the garment. Instead, it enacts adelphité—a chosen kinship that transcends sisterhood and redefines protection as relational, queer, and tender.
The dudou was traditionally handmade by women for their husbands and children, with motifs drawn from mythology and folklore meant to protect the wearer. This intimate undergarment has long been associated with fertility, protection, and prosperity.
The writing presents our reinterpretations of the dudou’s symbolic meanings. We asked: how can its protective meanings be carried into the present? Rather than relying on traditional symbolism, we explored protection through storytelling, care, and connection—with each other, and with broader diasporic and marginalized communities.
By making dudous for each other as opposed to for husbands or children, our act challenges the heteronormative, fertility-centered legacy of the garment. Instead, it enacts adelphité—a chosen kinship that transcends sisterhood and redefines protection as relational, queer, and tender.