Headlands Center for the Arts

While at Headlands

While at Headlands, I will be developing a cast of sculptural mannequins, costumes, and props. These costume displays and props will exist both in a sculptural state as well as in an accompanying performance where these artifices will be activated by a troupe of actors in a one act play. For this project I will be working collaboratively with a playwright, costumer, and actors in my trans/queer community to put on a production that is of my community.  These sculptures will utilize an array of materiality and craft: including carved wood, chased metal, woven leather, sewn vinyl, etc. These sculptures and accompanying play will dramatize the conflicts found between the archetypal characters of the Olympian/Athlete,  Jester/Mascot, and Grey Cardinal/Coach as well as several supporting characters. My collaborators and I aim to speak on themes of queer failure, camp excellence, and trans villainy/divinity.

Artist Statement

I create sculptural props: objects that have an aura of narrative without collapsing into Story. Beginning with a form that charms and repels me, I collapse my experience of that form into the prop in its slanting articulation. I am drawn to the gaudy tool and the utilitarian adornment; I love side chairs that were never intended to be used. I celebrate craft, queerness, and the pathetic. A technical mistake is always an opportunity for adornment; adornment is always an opportunity to be gay. I am seeking out a soft pivot in service of a queer liberation. To use these works to build a common vocabulary of slanted signifiers to point towards what that liberation might look like. Through sculpture, I circumscribe fantasies that are both familiar and secret.