I turned the entire upstairs of my childhood home into an art gallery which I named Gates Gallery.
One room held five large format silkscreen and watercolored portraits of 5 non-binary, trans, and gender non-conforming friends of mine. Each person was interviewed about their childhood, their personal relationship to gender, and how their parents and environment shaped them into who they have become. For some, this meant fighting hard against parental pressures.
Three other connected rooms were an immersive, interactive art installation.
These are the photos of my art and of the night of my reception,
graciously taken for me by my dear friend Zach Fox.
You can see Zach’s work here.
Cris no-tina the Tom Boy
Silkscreen, watercolor
24” x 30”
2017
Short Hair = Dyke
Silkscreen, water color, bed sheets
24” x 30”
2017
Fish Factory Non-Binary
Silkscreen, watercolor, collage
36” x 24”
2017
Pink is the Warmest Color
Silkscreen, water color, collage
24” x 30”
2017
Daughter Becomes Mother
Silkscreen, watercolor, brass, micron pen
24” x 36”
2017
me with my favorite of the five portraits
~ ~ ~
The Interactive Art Installation
I invited the viewer to change the VHS to anything in the suitcase or any of the home videos.
The movies in the suitcase were all aggressively female “gendered.”
So you want to be a ballerina?, Barbie as Repunzel, Swan Princess, etc
what’s in the secret closet?...
I had multiple prompts throughout the installation.
This one read:
“Look through these magazine and try to find two things:
1. Someone who you can relate to, in whatever way.
2. Examples of stereotyped gender rolls.
Cut out any examples you find and tape them anywhere in here.
Write your name on the tape if you want.“
climbing through the cardboard tunnel....
...leading to what?....
~ * ~ * a pink and cloudy dream cave * ~ * ~
I made my childhood bedroom into a dreamy, pink, purple, and toy filled haven.
The fort-like nature of the room forced anyone who entered to crawl around
on their hands and knees in order to interract with the different objects and prompts.
This prompt started with a stack of looseleaf paper, pens, markers, water colors, and make-up. The prompt read:
“Using the art supplies provided here, draw on
paper or paint on these blank doll heads
what you would consider a beatiful girl if you were a child”
While the room was full of gendered toys (pink, bows, frills, ballerinas, dolls, teddy bears wearing dresses, Barbies, etc) I also included some of my favorite genderless toys that my sisters and I enjoyed as children.
Lite Brite, our extensive collection of realistic fake food, memory puzzles, matching games, and art supplies.
Every object you see in this room was a product of my childhood.
‘Mommy, Teach Me Anatomy’ doll
Mixed media
2017
I hand embroidered the female reproductive system
and attached it into Kit’s body with a system to open and close her abdomen.
~ ~ ~
Self Portraits
Part of my year-long thesis project was an experiement of my own
gender identity, both internal and external.
My hair was long when I started the year and I slowly cut it shorter and shorter until I finally
buzzed it off for my entire last semester of school. Most of my haircuts were self inflicted.
Choppy and chaotic. A space I frequently hold for myself.
I photographed myself periodically throughout this year.
I also paid close attention to the way people, specifically men,
reacted to my hair at all of its different lengths for the entire year.
Many men made passing comments, “missing” my long hair
once I started cutting it short, commenting on how beautiful my hair “was“ and
my shorter hairstyles were rarely complemented (by males).
Overall I had few comments during the middle / short lengths.
Though once my hair was buzzed, I was startled by how many compliments I got,
most from women. Other women seemed to feel inspired by my buzz cut
and never in my life has a haircut illicited so many unsolicited comments.
To this day, my gender identity is a thing I explore internally and externally,
with my hair, clothes, and thoughts.
There is no wrong way to express gender.
I hope the future we are moving toward is one of less binary.
A future of less gendered expectation.
An elimination of the word and meaning behind “normal.”
“Is it a boy or a girl???”
They’re a person.
You’re a person.
Our genitals do not define our identity,
and it is long overdue that society separates
the two from their forced relationship.
My genitals have and never will define who I am.
The pink toys I adored and still find visual pleasure in revisiting
did not produce a frilly and femme adult person.
Why do we make the acceptable box for being a young girls so small?
So please, for the love of god,
can we stop saying,
with words
and actions
and pink frilly bows forced upon undesiring heads......
“It’s a Girl!”
- Mariel Gates, December 2020
~ thanks for viewing ~
