Life Beyond the Binaries

In response to your last past James, it raises a lot of interesting questions that I will attempt to address here. Over the weekend I have been thinking more about what I notice, both the actual images I take, and what they represent in my mind, be it the environmental destruction you mention, or the hollowness of our profit-driven society. I agree in the "noticing" that our practices have concurrent themes such as these. I am most interested now, in working with the noticings to produce imagery that brings truth to the forefront our minds.

For me, "getting out of our heads" relates to clarity, be it mental or emotional. Having clarity in my thought process, releasing myself from getting too caught up in what things mean, and actually just creating things without too much thought, which I feel can hinder the creative process.

In order to care, to bring it to the forefront of people's minds, repetition can be key. Repetition in noticing, even only subconsciously, can have an effect on what people believe to be true. The more a person hears or views something, the more likely they are to believe it. I think repetition is something Will Coles is attempting to experiment with his bee plaques in this area, reminding me, at least twice on my walk into the studios alone, that our environment is in a dire situation. 

I enjoyed reading the excerpt from your article, I feel it is very insightful to the way you think. I feel growing up in a different time period to you, there was somewhat more positive representation of individuals with the gay label. While this is something to be considerably grateful for, I still could not find any true representations of how I actually felt, but rather how one group of people who had this gay label stereotypically felt. It seems in the same way you fled to the woods, I found solace in communities of like-minded people on the internet who actually shared some of my values. In the same way a society built by straight people had little to offer to queer people, communities on the internet actually built by LGBTQ+ individuals who were more like me had something for me to offer, a place where wasn't trying to fit into the conventional gay label. 

Growing up in this way seems to have had an impact on my practice, I put a lot of emphasis on creating artwork that is different, and has elements that reflect my experience in viewing the internet as a safe haven. It has certainly taught me to not take things at face value, just like the title of your post I try to live beyond the binary categorisations of our world, just as sexuality and gender are a spectrum; they cannot be associated with singular binary terms; thinking beyond the label frees the mind to think more creatively and experimentally. 

At the start of this week I plan to experiment with producing imagery inspired by the ideas behind my noticings; blending visual aspects and text that brings truth to the forefront our minds.