about the work...
The bodies of queer people are often considered to be inappropriate content for the classroom, or for the public. Art making, as a method of "re-presentation", allows us to deal with "presentation". The body of work becomes a substitute for the body that is allowed into spaces where the body may not be welcome. The gallery then again "re-presents" the work in a manner it believes the audience will be able to understand. When a lesbian artist makes a work that deals with themes of sexuality, is it necessary that that work be accessible to a non-lesbian audience?
Historically, the Western art scene has been targeted towards the white, male, cisgender, normally-abled, heterosexual audience. Art that does represent a minority group either does so from the perspective of an outsider, or aims to explain something about that group to the outsider. The work performed by the piece is dragged down to the level of an explanation. When the artwork frees itself from this duty it opens itself up to so many other avenues of understanding. Queer art should not have to trim off parts of itself to be more appealing, or more understandable. Like a mirror, it can reflect back only that which is already within the viewer.
However, it is possible for art to be a connection between members of a community. Representation allows community members to feel less alone, and more understood. I have developed this series of work from a personal place but I hope they will be able to speak to everyone on a different level. In order to further develop a visual language of queerness throughout my work I have twisted signals of blondness and girlishness with textual and physical narratives, living in the tension between softness and strain. Found objects are the basis for the majority of the works, perhaps because queer people always have to carve their own spaces and forms from those of the mainstrea