My name is Emerson, I am 17, and I am an artist. As a non-binary person, I have a unique perspective on life and the interactions with people around me, and I use these insights to create artwork that reflects both my identity and the universal struggle of genderqueer individuals to show their authentic self. I took this idea and created series of pieces to submit for my high school 2020 AP 2-D Studio Art portfolio, as well as part of my college admissions process. I explored my mental, physical, and social transformations as a non-binary person and how that fits into society’s progression of acceptance, focusing on the relationship between personal growth and social stereotypes. I will be attending Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey in the fall of 2020 majoring in Biomedical Art and Visualization with minors in Biology and Technical/Professional Writing. While this career field isn’t directly connected to my LGBTQ-inspired artwork, I hope to pursue both in the future.
The first series I created for my portfolio are pieces that I made with traditional media such as acrylic paint, collage elements, and a variety of other physical processes. They represent my childhood, being raised female, and how over time this identity felt wrong.
This first piece is a mixed media representation of me coming into the world, assigned female at birth.
Using a masculine body with feminine surroundings represents the initial struggle I had growing up into what people consider a ‘female’ body. This time in early adolescence was when I first began realizing something was different.
Transitioning is difficult, and many people are faced with supportive peers. This piece uses reflective material to create a distorted reflection when viewing it, showing the time it took to figure myself out and to understand my identity.
The next series is a study of printmaking techniques that allowed me to explore the physical and mental dysphoria I experience daily. I contrasted society’s view of how I present myself versus my own perception of my identity and gender expression.
The circle with an “x” is the gender symbol for non-binary people, while the variety of triangles represent the triangle symbol that was used during WWII to signify gay and lesbian people. The symbol is being reclaimed by the LGBTQ community, and it represents the struggles we still go through today.
Next, I analyzed my journey of self-discovery compared to the experiences of others, using digital media such as Adobe Photoshop. I layered my own images on top of news articles, showing a progression of societal acceptance of LGBTQ people and my own acceptance of myself.
The following series took a graphic design approach to representing media and how the language I use about my identity was initially largely formed using information I found on online LGBTQ resources, for better or for worse.
Finally, I created a digital study representing my personal struggle with identity. The contrasting colors not only represent opposite and conflicting gender identities, but also show my emotional journey through acceptance. In my early childhood, I never questioned my gender, but as I have grown physically and mentally, I have transitioned into who I am today. Throughout my transition, however, I have faced a variety of positive and negative reactions, evidenced by the contrasting sections of the last few pieces.
