despite lockdown only allowing us out of our home for the bare minimums of human contact, each time i left my apartment i was subjected without fail to transmisogynistic aggressions, always at the hands of, or from the lips of, men.
i processed these experiences by making absurdist objects - by taking the objects of my day to day life and emblazoning them with the statement ‘i fucking hate men’.
i call these pieces absurdist because it is utterly absurd that there is barely an aspect of our day to day life, that is not explicitly and/or implicitly imbued with, or coloured by, patriarchal ideals. the products we are dependent upon for hygiene, nourishment, productivity, or entertainment have come into our lives because men could profit from them. the overheads that dictated an object’s production or form have been dictated by the need for men to further consolidate their wealth, power, and influence.
i have been given no agency or consideration whatsoever over the heteronormative propaganda to which i have been exposed for as long as i have breathed. i find it entirely appropriate then that i should reclaim those patriarchal objects and imbue them with anti patriarchal slogans.
over the weeks and months of lockdown 1, the need to release and transmute the anger of being hurt so systematically into something whimsical and absurd - transmuted itself into a manifesto - my trans manifesto - an explanation of my pieces, a reckoning with masculinity, and a call to do. the. work.
my 2020 exhibition of the same name showcased a series of absurdist object art pieces all emblazoned with the statement
'i fucking hate men'
the centre piece was what i call my bitter pills - clear capsules containing that statement along with an anatomically correct red heart, packaged not as antidepressants, but as antipatriachants
the medical info sheet unfolds to reveal my trans manifesto...
