Beyond the Binary – Midsumma

There is something delightful about people who are looking through their phones at my figures who are looking at their phones. A beautiful recursion of technology and engagement, a new way of looking at the world. So often we see art and commentary complaining about the pervasiveness of the smart phone without exploring the beautiful ways it connects us all together, without acknowledging the fact that we have the sum total of humanity’s knowledge at our fingertips. There are constant complaints about selfies and narcissism without exploring the very real benefit that selfies have in making us feel valid in our own skin, especially when we cannot always control the way the world sees us.

These works are on the nature of non binary transness in a binary state. As so many of us live as non binary people on a gender spectrum in a world that insists on being blue or pink, male or female I felt it was appropriate to explore this nature within a system that only sees things essentially as on or off, 1 or 0. My work represents those of us who live in that spectrum, outside the binary, and often have difficulty fitting into the rigid societal norms so often enforced on us.

My work also explores the nature of passing and not passing as the gender you are. The complex nature of your internal monologue not matching your exterior and how, if you are in a gender that changes regularly, your body may or may not fit you at any time, sometimes without warning.

The trapped in the wrong body narrative still persists. The idea that trans people can and will want to change their bodies is pervasive and trans people who cannot, or do not, wish to transition are underrepresented. This project shows people in varying stages of self-acceptance, of exploring their bodies as they are, unashamed. They are gods, inspired by archaeological artifacts and classical art with a modern twist. they are a vision of acceptance and emergence. Showing that there is no wrong way to have a body.

These works use Machine Learning, Augmented Reality, and 3D modeling to explore these complex themes. For more information on the Recursion project visit my page