This study discusses the work of the hermaphroditic performance duos EVA & ADELE and Breyer P-Orridge by using a psychoanalytical framework to compare and contrast expressions of femininity within their work as it relates to the image of the hermaphrodite, the feminine body as other and to ideas of what constitutes a personal identity. The main focus for the study is to discuss how the use of language effects our perception of others and why it is important to question the rigidity of a supposed binary system.

The first part of the study takes a closer look into the manifestos of each duo while also giving a brief background to the artists. In the second part the works of EVA & ADELE and Breyer P-Orridge are analysed using the ideas of Jacques Lacan’s others as well as Joan Riviere’s the concept of femininity as expressed in “Womanliness as a masquerade” contrasted by the writings of performance artist Valie Export. In the study the story of Ovid’s Hermaphroditus and Salmacis as well as that of Adam and Eve are used as a tool to highlight certain aspects of the perceived gender binary and its relation to the use of mirrors as well as the act of mirroring within both duos artistic practices. Lastly by looking into some of the reception of both artist duos the study will compare the liminal properties of the feminine Other with those of the grotesque body of the carnivalesque as it appears in the work of Francesca Granata while primarily focus on the questions regarding the temporal nature of performance as opposed to the permanence of reality. The conclusion of the study is that the artists are predominantly concerned with highlighting the arbitrariness of language through their work as it relates to any perceived binary and that the idea of the identity being tied to one body or person is just a construct just like any other. Thus suggesting that it is more important to try and look for commonalities rather than differences when meeting the so called other.