Queer Comfort and Conditionalities

Abstract

Concept, materials, and process are the three driving factors of my thesis work. My thesis asks the questions: “why does my (queer) comfort make you uncomfortable?” And “why does my (queer) comfort come with conditionalities?” Queer comforts, things like the sheets of my wife and I, our games, our memories, our wedding, and our intimacies, are just everyday objects and moments, so why do they make people so uncomfortable? These questions are explored through the mediums of printmaking and bookmaking in my thesis. My books explore these comforts, this unfamiliar-to-some queer life that exists outside the hegemonic binary we live in, through pushing the boundary of the familiar book. My books act as their own agents, working with humans-as-agents to expand upon the canon of queer art and create a more relational world. I wish to continue to challenge and expand the canon of queer art by creating as a queer artist and showing others what a queer artist looks like today; I also want to see what printmaking and bookmaking can mean in today’s world through my books and their dissemination. My books explore the intimacy of the human experience, where gender does not matter but the connection of bodies does.Keywords: Queer, comfort, conditionalities, printmaking, bookmaking, books, canon of art, intimacy, gender, sexuality.