“ELIOT” IS AN HOMAGE TO THE STRUGGLE OF QUEER SELF-ACTUALIZATION: THE ABILITY TO NOT JUST SAY YOU ARE QUEER, BUT TO LIVE A QUEER EXISTENCE. IN THE PAST FEW YEARS I’VE UNDERGONE WHAT CAN ONLY BE DESCRIBED AS AN UNCEREMONIOUS DETHRONING; IN MY PURSUIT OF LIBERATION FROM THE HETERONORMATIVE, I FOUND MYSELF IN A SORT OF PRE-NATAL LIMBO, OF BEING REBORN IN THE SHADOW OF THE OLD SELF. AND WITH IT HAS COME THE UNEEARTHING OF A MULTITUDE OF FEELINGS: OF RAGE, OF DELIRIUM, OF MANIA,OF MATERNAL DISOBEDIENCE, OF SHAME, OF JOY.

THESE DOUBLE EXPOSURES AND PHOTOGRAPHS FEATURE MY FIRST COLLEGE ROOMMATE, ELIOT, WHO WAS ALSO ONE OF THE FIRST OPENLY GENDERQUEER PEOPLE I HAD EVER MET. A POET AND DRAG MAKEUP ARTIST, THEIR ABILITY TO TRANSCEND GENDER SO EFFORTLESSLY WAS INTOXICATING, BUT TERRIFYING. WE DID A SERIES OF PHOTOSHOOTS TOGETHER, IN OUR DORM ROOM BATHROOM AND FRIEND’S APARTMENTS. THEY WERE FUN, SIMPLE. A WAY TO PASS THE TIME AND MAKE NEW, BETTER MEMORIES THAN THE ONES I HAD BEFORE. I DIDN’T QUITE UNDERSTAND THE GRAVITY OF WHAT WE HAD MADE UNTIL PUTTING THIS SHOW TOGETHER: THAT BETWEEN CLASSES AND SUBWAY RIDES AND GETTING NEAR-BLACKOUT DRUNK IN BROOKLYN TOGETHER, WE HAD ACTUALLY BEEN ABLE TO CAPTURE, IN REAL-TIME, THE NEAR-INVISIBLE STTRUGGLE OF WHAT IT ACTUALLY MEANS TO CROSS THE GENDER BINARY, TO BLUR THE LINE OF MAN AND WOMAN, OF HUMAN AND HUMAN-LIKE, OF WHAT IT MEANS TO JUST BE, NO LABEL REQUIRED.

READ ELIOT’S WORDS ON QUEER IDENTITY, AND CHECK OUT THEIR WEBSITE HERE.