EGO-STROKERS
EGO-STROKERS are a series of images of queer and trans* folk mocking the devastatingly common “ego-stroking” men, who only function to please themselves and further their self-status. With no empathy or attachment to others, they hump each other to meet their own desires. Using their image and appearance as an arrogant buffer, they exploit the energy and emotion of others to get off.
Stoic and motionless, the figures interact with a subtle sense of guilt, anger, and secrecy. Hovering just above each other’s bodies, they withhold pleasure from contact. Captured in black and white, the binary value of the images further this disconnect and distinction.
Subject X = the nuance of gender expansiveness and identities (& critique of oppressive gender ideologies )
Fagagraphs
In a black and white binary world, those who are seen as ‘in the grey area’ play within this fluid space, morphing to mimic, mock, or metamorphosize. Soft, liquified bodies stretch and transform as disruptions to binaries, acknowledging nuance and expansion of identity and social construction. With explicit texture of the figures bodies, we witness the results of weathering from living an expansive life. This same weathering helping sculpt the figures, in their bodies, minds, and connections.
An autobiographical work, Syme explores their experiences as a trans* and autistic individual, a commonly overlapping idenity which is rarely recognized as visible. From this space, unique kinks, humour, communication, and community structure arise. Neuroqueers often express feeling like an alien, non-human, or that we relate more to other animals than humans, as a result of our neurotype and how we have been socialized in an unaccepting society. Comedic and exaggerated, Syme captures these ‘Fagagraphs’ to play with, connect, and reflect their community.
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playing with queer kink, gender dysphoria, and t4t sexual relations.
queer art references: Tessa Boffin, Catherine Opie, Felix Gonzalez-Torres
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