about queeristics

is this a boy or a girl?
it's a drawing.

the dialogue that sparked this project

I was drawing a picture story in one of my drawing classes at the art school where I was studying. My classmates liked it very much: “Oh wow, that's so cool!” Then one pointed at one of the characters and said: “But is this a boy or a girl?” I looked at them and didn’t see their point – it seemed so obvious to me: “It’s a drawing!”

I was irritated: my drawn figures had to deal with the same question I used to be asked when I had short hair and a “boyish closet”. Why was it so important to present an unequivocal image – in real life in drawings?

My undergraduate studies in illustration had a strong emphasize on drawing practice. Backing one’s practical work with conceptual or theoretical reflection was rarely asked for. I felt that was a lack and independently implemented a theoretical framework by going to academic lectures and by reading theoretical texts from the fields of queer theory, sociology and philosophy, cultural studies and visual culture.

With this background I thought about how on the one hand this theory input could flow back into my drawings and on the other hand how my drawings could be the basis for theoretical reflection about images. I developed a conceptual approach to drawing and explored the possibilities of drawing as social activism.

Since images do not merely represent reality but create realities too, attempting to understand, rework, change, diversify and add to the pictures that create and sustain a way of “seeing” and “living” is a political concern.

Why all this? Because I think many lives would improve if there was at least a greater choice of images to comply with.