Orte Mansfield
He/Him. My project explores the fear that comes alongside growing up transgender through performative photography, video, mask making and printmaking.
He/Him. My project explores the fear that comes alongside growing up transgender through performative photography, video, mask making and printmaking.
Entering the world as a young LGBT+ person is a terrifying experience. From a young age, I have had to come to terms with widespread hate directed towards me and others like me for something we cannot control, who we fundamentally are. Throughout my Final Major Project, I wanted to communicate how this fear combines with the uncomfortable, trapped feeling of being transgender and to explore the perceptions that society has on people like me. The idea that somebody who hates you because of an aspect of your identity, they will be unable to move past it and view you as a whole person and there is nothing you can do to change their mind. They will always view you as a monster.
Through the monoprinting process, I created almost human figures inspired by previous self portraits of myself, combining them with the shape of the masks to explore the fear of never truly knowing who you are, remaining a stranger to yourself forever.
