COURSE: Art 467: Graphic Design for Posters
MEDIUM: Poster, Digital Collage
DESCRIPTION:
Trans Triptych is a three-part poster series representing transgender identity and bodies. The outer posters are abstracted bodies of masculine and feminine presenting models, each with their faces distorted. The middle poster is a digital collage depicting the more harsh imagery of transitioning and hormone replacement therapy, with needles used for testosterone injections and estrogen pills. The eyes are an overlay of a man and a woman, their gaze hazy as their combined form stares directly at the viewer. Each poster was created fully in Photoshop.
ARTIST’S STATEMENT:
The triptych examines the metamorphosis of the body through social and hormonal changes. While this process can be painful, ugly, and exasperating, there is also beauty and love deeply ingrained in the transition. Media revolving around trans bodies is often filled with grief and sadness, and while this is certainly part of the process, trans joy is frequently overlooked. Trans Triptych adds a hint of playfulness to hormone replacement therapy and transitioning with use of text, purposefully trivializing the trans identity, and imagery, abstracting the cis figures so only their bodies are distinguishable. This is a deliberate shift in the power imbalance between cis and trans bodies, as the triptych is created for trans viewers. I believe that finding and embracing ugliness in your body is key to understanding it fully, as these features are rooted in your being. As a queer, transmasculine, and Latine artist, I have been forced to reexamine my body, its needs, and how I am perceived by those who do not look like me. My art is a response to these expectations, their effect on other queer and trans BIPOC folks, and to create work that does not follow these ignorant standards. There is beauty in everything, but it can be found most in the ugliness we are forced to believe is in ourselves.
