“My practice as a tool and object maker is drawn towards investigating my own embodied experiences of trans/gender expansiveness; through ceramic, metal, and various material outcomes.
PB.0003 is from an ongoing series called Porous Binaries; a wearable visual vernacular of sculptural adornment objects, exploring the reconstruction of ideas and material language around gender, sexuality, and human biology. Wearing this piece makes me feel present and connected in my trans body. I delight in how it drapes against my unbound chest; the way it can shape-shift its orientations to engage the wearer’s sense of embodiment through color, movement and sound.”
Danica Drago
(they/them)
Samonte Cruz
they/them
Juror’s Choice
Our jurors for [queerphoria] vol. 2: Adorned Serenity each chose an artist’s work that they wanted to highlight from the exhibition.
“My juror’s choice is Samonte Cruz’s piece, ‘Eternal Safe Space: Trans-cestors’ Funerary Mask’; an exceptional work for me in the show, because of how much it speaks to the absence of serenity that many trans/gender non-conforming people face in this current time; navigating the past, present and future traumas of existing in a world that systemically inflicts structural violence on our bodies in both life and death. By connecting with their cultural and lived experiences as a trans, Filipinx, disabled person, Samonte’s piece envisions a safe space beyond this realm; to access a sense of inner peace by claiming space in the present to protect and honor the dead, while creating a powerful connection to the legacies of their queer and trans Filipinx ancestors.
This 3-piece 22k gold funerary mask is a somber and beautiful testament to the adorned serenity that is rooted in diasporic queer/trans embodiment, and how to draw upon its power and protection in the face of violent colonial erasure. As this exhibition closes just before Trans Day of Remembrance, Samonte dedicated this piece to honor the 336 reported trans/gender non-conforming people that became ancestors too soon, losing their lives to anti-trans violence in 2023. In honoring their ancestral living legacies in the present moment, Samonte’s work uses the power of adornment to center the sacredness of queer/trans bodies, and create a wearable safe space that transcends beyond our time.”
-Danica
