Neoslit (2023)
lenticular prints

In trans theory there is this notion of lag time, or how transition is marked by delay. To gain access to treatment, to feel aligned with one's body. Wait to come-out, to pass, to move to a safe place. Wait for safety, comfort, joy. This lag can produce a sense of fatigue, with transition experienced as an endless tunnel, a journey of becoming sometimes ecstatic but often tinged with anxiety. This series is about time. I wanted to represent mysterious femqueen creatures morphing into the unknown. There is also a utopian quality to these figures evolving fluidly between sexes, genders and races, melting into each other as allegory of a relational ontology.

There is also this quote from Torrey Peters, "half of the trans women in Brooklyn live in a state of perpetual pre-celebrity, awaiting a well-deserved recognition that will never come." This speaks to the precarious aspect of trans lives. While our community is bursting with talent, stars of the queer underground struggle to pay bills, and many of us are in permanent proximity to crisis. In light of this, I wish to dedicate this work to all the trannies fighting for gay liberation.

The name of the series references my Neotribe research, as well as slit-scan photography, an oldschool still and animation technique that allows to play with temporality. I found this to be the adequate metaphor of trans lag, the figures seemingly frozen in time, compressed and flattened into surface. However, it's up to the viewer to reanimate them, thanks to a complex digital workflow that led me to produce these lenticular prints, physical artifacts with the quality of displaying movement.

visit the project page

(documentation of the physical artworks coming soon)