they/them
an evolving body of work that uses articles of my wardrobe to reinforce, explore, explain, and protect my gender identity in a world that feels increasingly hostile. I developed the framework for this series while living and teaching in rural NY USA where I am from. It came to be out of a need to more genuinely connect to the people around me.
"they felt (purple)" (2018). A series in which I tried to make the unknowable (my gender identity) knowable. Designed for accessibility (in terms of materials for making), readability (and understandability to a wide audience of people who do not have ready access to gender theory or many out non cis folks), and flexibility (for evolving identity and needs of the wearer (me)).
"party kid they" (2018). The first of the they series of clothing items. Wearing big, colorful dresses was a conscious choice I made in my teens for an unconscious need. Plagued by severe gender dysphoria, wearing dresses deemed so feminine that they bordered on ugly (in 2007-2018 cis/hetero rural NY) I was attempting to build a framework for "other" with the limited concepts that I had access to. If I could manage to go so far down the spectrum that it became unpalatable, then I succeeded.
"they they they (orange)" "they they they (blue)" (2018). Later works in the series became more subtle as I sought to bear less of the weight of justifying and explaining my world. In hostile professional environments with little to no formal support, at times, it was just enough to know for myself and know that those who know would always be able to see.
"they felt (purple)" (2018). A series in which I tried to make the unknowable (my gender identity) knowable. Designed for accessibility (in terms of materials for making), readability (and understandability to a wide audience of people who do not have ready access to gender theory or many out non cis folks), and flexibility (for evolving identity and needs of the wearer (me)).
