when my skin becomes my own

My work is heavily focused on the concept of “the sublime” in relation to transness; mixing beauty with terror which I argue is inherently queer. This specific piece is a documented performance where tattoo artist, Ezra Ryan, bloodlines a poem, written by me, onto my back with their tattoo gun. Bloodlining is the process of tattooing with water, rather than ink, so that the only visible mark created is that of the subject’s blood. The engraved text relates to the practice of body modification as a way to express my identity and embrace my queerness; this process of marking my flesh is liberating.

This piece is primarily documented with a thermal camera. The thermal camera picks up on the heat of my skin reacting to the bloodlining which creates vibrant colours and patterns, a sort of filter, over the violent act of engraving my skin; this relates directly to “the sublime”. In addition to the thermal documentation, there is a regular video documentation and audio portion (seen below) consisting of the sound of the tattoo needles hitting my skin. This work focuses on the intersectionality of body modification and trans/queer culture as a practice of resistance.