The Center on Halsted solo exhibition includes 39 of 65 drawings from the series “ME NOT.” The drawings, completed over the past three years, explore gender fluidity and the struggle we all partake in conforming our bodies to predetermined norms. Each is a thought, a puzzle, my befuddlement, as I came to terms with parenting a non-binary child. Underlining my probe was a desire to be there for them, to respond to their needs, to know how to listen, to know what not to say. I kept a sketchbook close by, using paper and pencil to sort out my fears and a lingering sense of loss and hopelessness, but also relief, joy, and confusion.
Each drawing is numbered, but they were not installed in ordered. My thoughts were not linear. Themes circled back, especially those of unease––stats on violence against transgender individuals, especially trans women, are frightening. The installation begins with the first drawing made in the summer of 2014, from there it is a cognitive search for understanding, one that for me goes beyond constructs, beyond the binary.
The project has also exhibited at the Brownsville Museum of Fine Art, TX, The San Diego Art Institute, The Rymer Gallery (solo show) Nashville, Central Michigan University, and Nicolet College, Rhinelander, WI., Women’s Caucus For Art, National, Chicago, IL, Manifest Gallery, Cincinnati, OH
To view the drawings check out Cactus, flower, fuck-off, love, roses drawings
"cactus, flower, f%#k-off, love, roses", at the Center on Halsted, Chicago, IL
