Bend is an abstract pop-up book that depicts and, ultimately, subverts the concept of gender binaries. The assumption that people are born as either a male or a female and will possess an innate display of either masculine or feminine traits as a result of their anatomy is all too simplified of a definition of gender and does not represent the reality of our non-binary world. My work is aimed at toppling gender norms, gender roles, and gendered violence, all problems that stem in part from the expectations built from gender binaries. This book utilizes the diptych layout of the pages to portray the split between binary genders, female and male, which gradually converge and fuse together as one flips through the sequence of the book.
