Habit Bodies - Zara Asgher & Laura Hasanen

Habit Bodies is an artistic project by Laura Hasanen (USA/FI) and Zara Asgher (PK) that explores the relationships between bodily histories, gender, and place. Both are visual artists and art educators working in Helsinki who have collaborated as a duo since 2022. The work employs video performance, text, and installation.

At the heart of the work lies the friction that emerges when gendered behavioral patterns are challenged or resisted. Habit Bodies uses the family as a framework: the artists explore gestures, body language, and storytelling as ways to understand how family expectations and the repetition of corrective gestures have shaped their relationship to gender and place. Two bodies attempt to writhe, evade, reject, and adapt - striving to straighten out their awkward existence.

A sign-language guided tour in Finnish is offered on Saturday, 6 June 2025, 1-2 pm.