Community, Identity

Community and identity are vital tools to the human experience, and how the two interact has always interested me as both tend to intersect with a wide array of social justice issues. One of the ways people gather in community is through personal expression. It may seem a bit oxymoronic but self expression bonds people; the way people choose to express their personality/style/morals can affect who they choose to surround themselves with. In the queer community, fashion, makeup, and how people generally physically present are huge parts of personal gender affirmation in addition to connecting those with similar stories. Gender, regardless of identity and orientation, is an ongoing performance. I'd like to share my own experience with gender expression as well as create a platform for others to have these discussions with one another, fostering community while sharing art that’s important to me. I have chosen to create wearable art pieces coinciding with important abstract aspects of queer culture as a way of bringing people with shared experiences together and represent values they hold close. My hope is to produce pieces that members of the queer community can wear or relate to and feel pride in their identity (without all the glittery rainbow capitalist pride flag t-shirts).