Brack~ish: (of water) the space between and surrounding a nonbinary gender experience

Brack~ish

This series of photographs, cyanotypes, collages, and poetry explores the relationship between gender and the natural world through the verbo-visual metaphor of brackish water and the bay. 

   The work examines the connections between nonbinary gender identities and the natural world, with particular attention to the parallels between queer existence and life  outside the boundaries of traditional roles, akin to brackish bay water existing in two ecological worlds: salt and freshwater. This work makes a metaphorical connection to brackish water, which occupies the threshold between these two ecosystems through visuals such as introspective self portraits, nebulous natural textures, and queer portraits swimming in fluidity. The intimate portraits layered with spiraling birds and rippling water create a dreamlike, uncertain space that is reflective of the freedom my identity brings me while simultaneously allowing a new and mysterious space to emerge. Each photograph is created in concert to the poetic texts and vice versa; the visuals and language speaking to each other in conversation that transcends traditional media. The series unfolds through a coalescence of visual imagery and poetic text, each element informing and coexisting with the other to evoke layered fluidity and natural contradictions.