Undoing Gender
An ace bandage is wrapped tightly around a pink balloon that proclaims: It’s A Girl! The balloon was gifted to my mother shortly after I was born on March 5, 1989— not by a friend or family member, but by the hospital. This balloon has become a personal artifact that is symbolic of the limiting, harmful gender norms that are assigned to children from birth.
Through this ongoing painting series, I ask the viewer to reconsider cultural practices that erase the possibility of gender fluidity.
It’s A Girl
Sennelier ink, watercolor, gouache, and graphite on paper
144” x 55”
2016
The balloon depicted in these paintings is strangled by an ace bandage, distorting the text that attempts to declare the future newborn’s assigned gender. Ace bandages were historically used for breast binding, providing the wearer with relief from body dysphoria but restricting the chest cavity more and more with each breath. In this series, the ace bandage is represented as a complicated symbol—offering liberation while referencing the physical pain gender non-conforming people often endure.
Undoing
Sennelier ink and watercolor on paper
22” x 30”
2018