My work puts into conversation different kinds of trans-ness that affect kinship and gender. My perspectives as an infant adoptee (a transfamily member) and as the biological mother of a trans daughter intersect at questions of “realness”: Who is a “real” family member, and who is a “real” woman or man? I am interested in the tensions around these questions as well as the normative binaries of gender, kin, and nature vs. nurture that sustain them. My goals include presenting joyous resolutions of bioethnic and gender dysphoria - where “real” is not synonymous with “only” - without shying away from some of its pain. Mixed media permits me to think about how human and familial bodies are read and can be altered. Sleek acrylic, LED light, photo prints on metal, or mannequins interact with 100-year old wood, Catholic iconography, x-rays, or shag fabric.
My photographic work plays with texture, shadow, camp, and decay.
I was raised on Long Island, NY and have lived in Chicago since 1999. I went to college at Washington University in St. Louis, MO, and have lived in Spain, France, and Mexico. I have been a Professor of Spanish linguistics at the University of Illinois Chicago since 1999 (more about that here). My work has been shown at the University of Illinois at Chicago, at the Afri-Caribe Cultural Center, and at the Alliance for the Study of Adoption and Culture.
