By exploring queer identity through the various lenses of art, history, language, and space, one can begin to understand the vast and complex realms of queer experience as told from a queer perspective. Gay |A person who is emotionally, romantically, or sexually attracted to members of the same sex. Homophobia Fear and hatred of or concern about people who are attracted to members of the same sex.
This term was previously used as a slur, but has been reclaimed by many parts of the LGBTQ movement. Same-sex love |A term that some prefer to use instead of lesbian, gay, or bisexual to express attraction and love for people of the same sex. Prior to this ruling and subsequent actions to protect the morality and success of the film and media industry.
As Mikayla Mislak points out in their article "From Sissies to Secrecy: The Evolution of the Hays Code Queer". However, this primitive image in queer film was almost always harmful to the queer community, and by the 1940s and 1950s, with the permissiveness of the Code,5 the use of the "sissy" character seemed to suggest that their evil nature the result of their sexual deviance and/or the suggestion that their sex or sexual orientation led to insanity. This is somewhat surprising given that art spaces theoretically provide some of the safest places for queers to live and exist.
As seen with "Of Chairs and Closets", a ceramic and wood piece about coming out as a teenager, without knowing it objectively at the time, I used queer coding in my own work as a tool to share my queer story.
Queer Theory - No Longer in the Closet
Another way I use Queer theory through my work is by adapting this "loose" structure to strengthen the narratives of my works or the lack of a clear and defined narrative. Realizing that my work is built with layers of symbols, icons, phrases and figures, the lack of an absolute narrative is evident. Thus, my work best fits the community when, like that of queer theory, it is undefined.
This allows the queer viewer to approach the work and see themselves represented, filling in the gaps between images and creating the bonds needed to truly showcase the work. In the book “Imagining Queer Methods” by Amin Ghaziani and Matt Brim, I came across another definition of queer theory that for me was more applicable in its simplicity and specificity. Although they write from different backgrounds and different countries, Professor of English and Comparative Literature Jack Halberstam (1998) in the United States and.
In a strange but not unrecognizable twist, I noticed that my own approach to making is similar to my approach to life. I come as a maker who is Queer and has to walk the world differently than my cis/het peers. Halberstam and Plummer said "a certain disloyatly to the conventional", I reflect this in my own art making, and I find reliability at least in my queer approach and methods to art and craft.
To lure the viewer into the work, driven by warm, glowing, illustrative colors and designs scattered across the surface. In that moment of almost heartless deception, I create the illusion of safety in a frivolous and joyful image. How often am I personally lulled into a sense of security before I separate myself from spaces and work that promise inclusion and family.
Or do I simply take the resources already available to me and use them for my own personal and communal gain. Methods become queered when we use the principles of queer theory to tweak or explode what is possible with our existing procedures. Perhaps my determination to create a soft and gentle space both in the gallery environment and in the environment of my work is to use this warmth to lure the viewer not into a false sense of security, but rather a real sense of security that they can have. comfortable enough to access the necessary emotions not only to be fully engaged, but also to stay focused on the work.
Queer Experience: Beyond the Hyper-Eroticized, a personal perspective in making
I Was Told to Make more Sensual Work - is this what it means to be a queer maker?, 2020. Almost in a strange compulsion, I couldn't quite let go of the conditioning and ended up painting a scene where a stubborn nipple peeks out . Many of these conversations are deeply private, but hopefully one day they will be spoken aloud and recorded in the fabric of time.
I want to burn these images and stories permanently into this stone surface where it will stand the test of time - with the proper documentation etched on the front, sides and back of the work. Through my research for my essay, “Hidden Voices: The ancient lives of the LBGTQ+ community”14, pottery has a history of queerness that goes back millennia. By giving myself permission to work in the same materials that my queer ancestors worked with, I allow myself lineage and access to culture and traditions that I have been denied in the past because of my identity.
It becomes my companion, gently telling me that in the chaos of heartbreak and longing for a place to meet you, I belong to him and that's enough. They are composed with contemporary painting in mind, intended to be viewed on sterile white walls to draw attention to each work in turn. They are not tiles, they are not made to be made up of many of the same and mosaicked together.
By changing the edges of the clay plate and the hanging style, what used to be a painting no longer does. By changing what was once a canvas and in this case one. I don't approach clay and craft in the same way as most trained ceramicists, but I use that to my advantage when thinking about my relationship to the material.
Books have places left raw or unglazed to receive the words and stories of viewers in a gallery setting. This allows the work to document the thoughts and feelings of "others" who have encountered and found safety in the space I have built for them. The originally dominant and rough atmosphere, in which the bare wood of the erected structure is evident, turns into a soft, warm and gentle environment.
A mat lies in the middle of the space and invites people to sit and relax within the space. A table covered in tile flowers reminiscent of a sweet childhood collage project is placed to the left of the rug, inviting another moment of pause, rest and discussion.
THE CHEMISTRY
