Queer ID Project 2022 - 2023
A Vessel for Your Thoughts, Ceramic, 12x7 inches - 2022
What does being Queer mean?
In the fall of 2022 at the Queer ID exhibition at BSU, I exhibited a closed form ceramic “collection” vessel, where I asked gallery viewers to write down their thoughts, stories, or ideas on what it means to be queer and put them in a slot at the top of the pot. After the show I smashed the pot open to release the notes.
The final stage of this project, showcasing all the queer notes I received - unedited - is currently being exhibited for Pride Month in Garden City.
A heartfelt thank you goes out to all the wonderful people who participated in this project. Without their help this project wouldn’t have worked and I am thrilled to have gotten so many varied responses.
In progress - Hand thrown pot with silk screen decals, stencils and letter stamps.
Pottery is often described in terms of the body: hip, waist, shoulders; forms can be voluptuous, or slender, rigid or expressive, sturdy or fluid. While I was making this piece I was thinking about the body. The physical and performative aspects that make up an individual and how this visual representation of our form is used to define who we are. What is seen and inferred often holding greater weight than what is at the core of our humanity.
I was also thinking about labels and buzz words. How they can help define and unite us as a community, and alternatively, how they don’t always fit and can feel constricting at times. With the power of words the world has shaped me, labels and ideas have been assigned to me just as I have prescribed them to myself and others. Making this piece knowing it was made to be broken was incredibly cathartic. Knowing that whether I got it wrong or right didn’t matter as much as opening myself up to continue growing, listening and understanding those around me.
The intent of breaking this piece was to represent breaking those constructed, rigid “norms” of our society and to release the collected thoughts inside.
Pottery Smashing Video - Nov. 2022
When I started this project in 2022, I was grappling to understand how I fit into the queer landscape. Many of the things I witnessed in popular culture didn’t align with how I felt. My art didn’t feel radical enough, progressive, free of my own limitations. Social media, though encouraging a wide range of queerness, felt more like a book of how to and how not to queer. Everything overly politicized, especially queer bodies.
I still don’t quite know where I fit, but what I have learned through this project is that what is most encouraging to me is hearing people’s stories. Taking them into consideration, not having to completely understand something to acknowledge that people, humans, exist in their own right. Their stories matter.
Take A Piece - 80 4x4” hand written notes, 2023
Pottery Shards - sanded pottery shards from the original vessel, free to take away at the final showing.
So, what does it mean to be queer?
Consider diverse perspectives. That is the premise of this project, to showcase what it means to be queer, to invite more tolerance and understanding, to acknowledge that there is no right answer to that question.
Your story matters. You, as an individual, get to decide how to be a part of the queer collective in your own way. And, even if you don’t feel like you fit the standard - you are not alone.
