The somber moment of seeing yourself in real life as you see yourself in your head. Though we aim to deconstruct what it means to present within and outside of the gender binary, we can still feel euphoria and dress in ways that affirm our identity personal to our own expression.

Get Dressed (2024) explores the intimate relationship you have with your dresser. It knows you more intimately than most people in your life. It has seen all of your phases ( both good and bad). I have often felt dysphoria by way of the clothes I wore to assimilate into “girlhood.” Though those were some of the most uncomfortable periods in my life, I find it important to pay homage to all of the versions of myself that have led me to who I am today and who I will be in my future.

(Re)Communion (2024) examines my personal intersection between gender and faith. Growing up as a Lutheran, Confirmation is an important rite of passage that typically occurs in middle school as a marker into becoming a young adult. This rite coincidentally came during the genesis of my gender dysphoria. It was also when I first began having doubts about the church. Setting religion aside, confirmation is about crossing the threshold into a new version of yourself and a commitment to what this new version holds. This piece Imagines what a (re)confirmation would look like and asks me what new commitments I would make to myself. 

As gender is a performance, gesture is an important detail. It is a silent language that loudly announces emotion and can also be used as a tool for “passing.” For many people who are trans, there may come a period of relearning how to hold one's self. How should we sit? What do I do with my hands? What does it look like to be comfortable?

 My journey through puberty didn't come with the same lessons as those my brother learned. Throughout this transition process, trial and error, tutorials, and friendship have been my anchors as I navigate through what feels like my second puberty.

Adapted from the Gwendolyn Brooks poem, " Sadie and Maud," this project holds a mirror to the diverged lives of siblings.