Your identity is clearly a subject matter which you explore throughout your multidisciplinary practice and works. As an individual, can you pin-point your need and desire to express that to the world?
My work exists as a form of storytelling, and I use my voice to share my lived experience. I don’t always chose to be political, but the themes in my work such as gender, sex, and desire are often stigmatised by society so dialogue surrounding it makes it tacitly political. My being exists on the fringes of society, and perhaps many see that as a negative, but i’m here to share the beauty in it. Putting work out took me a bit of time to build up the confidence of believing my voice is valid. After viewing art, and from working in the artworld, I gathered a greater sense what art is, and I realised that the work according to my taste, sensibilities, and topics isn’t all that represented so I should be the one to create it.
Your first works which were platformed via Anticlone Gallery were sculpture, beginning with a silicone light series. What is it about these sculptures that made it become your first medium to explore, and since then what has become your favorite medium?
I started making art with my body via performance because it’s the most relatable and familiar, but also economical. I then branched out into making objects that were wearable art, before removing my body and creating just objects that have a resemblance to the body. The body has always been a central theme in my work, and I utilise all mediums in my dissection of body distortion. My interest in the body begun with my own transness and queerness, but it evolved into bigger questions surrounding the body regarding posthumanism when we consider how the idea of the body is manipulated through technology, desire, and the imagined self. Even if my work may have this niche focus, owning a body is universal, and my investigation should transcend my own experience so a broader audience can relate.
You have been an empowering force within the underground scene, from making the performance space Wraith, to being a figure within the LGBTQ+ community. You are invested in promoting your own work, but also the work of others. What do you feel, has been the pivotal point you recognised this?
I realised that even for me with the platform and network that I have, I was struggling to find places to show my work. There’s many reasons for this, but particularly for early career artists, which I still am, it’s difficult to get a way in, particularly when you don’t come from an affluent background or received art education. Then there is the nature of my work, which is not only niche but also risqué to a mainstream audience.
To combat these problems I do not wait for opportunities to come along, so I have often created platforms to exhibit work, knowing that the platform would be useful for others as well. I’m excited to show my work, but I also get a huge thrill to show the work of others, and I’m naturally someone that shares resources and opportunities.