IDENTITY (thesis related work)
My area of inquiry is the intersectional analysis on identity, gender and sexuality with valuation, or estimation of myself in deconstructing my own identity. This work serves as a self reflection of personal growth and development, while at the same time acknowledging political issues within the queer community.
My area of inquiry is the intersectional analysis on identity, gender and sexuality with valuation, or estimation of myself in deconstructing my own identity. This work serves as a self reflection of personal growth and development, while at the same time acknowledging political issues within the queer community.
EPIDERMAL MACABRE (poem by Theodore Roethke)
The poem stands as a consonant with my own perspective on gender and the body. On a personal level, it addresses my experience of gender dysphoria, and the desire to be liberated from defined constructs of this nature. I used the meat to portray my own raw, carnal sense of embodiment vis-a-vis vulnerability, access, control, and the desire to be “stripped away” from my physical sex (q.v. Rubin, Traffic in Women, 1975, regarding difference between sex and gender). I incorporated the string to portray the inhibitions I feel surrounding my gender/sex identity, along with the physical objectification I’ve encountered on the basis of my appearance; additionally, the work was developed from my perspective on dating in the gay community. With the poem, I wanted to create a composition that was allusive to Art Nouveau and Arts and Crafts styles exhibited in biblical woodblock prints through pieces such as Aubrey Beardsley, Morte D Arthur (1893) or William Morris, The Story of the Glittering Plain (1891). I felt the style and vernacular were fitting for the context of the poem; I felt a certain intuitive dovetailing of intent when I learned that woodblock printers at that time wanted to portray the word of god through the use of delicate type and ornamentation. I view some of that intent, though ambiguously secularized, as being carried forward here.
