Creeping into myself: smocking, pleating, and folding as transgender orientation

这项以实践为基础的研究的目的是探索跨性别和非二元的人如何使用各种基于纺织品的实践、工具和技术来表达他们的身份和经历。通过考虑我自己手工制作纺织艺术的过程，将其视为一种挑战跨性别者身体界限的叙述的方式，这些叙述往往局限于病理性的语言，并限制了“跨性别性”的概念，我打算检查物质概念将跨性别性研究和纺织品艺术联系在哪里。在这项研究中，我还将寻求在当代变性人和非二元艺术家的更广泛背景下定位我的作品，他们以纺织品为中心或将纺织品纳入他们的实践。我的研究问题是：-通过创作凌乱、不完整和无序的作品，我的实践过程和结果如何挑战关于跨性别经历和跨性别研究的机构叙事？-跨性别和非二元艺术家如何使用不同的纺织技术、工具和实践来反映具体的知识？-这项工作如何挑战纺织艺术和传统技艺观念的等级界限？通过以实践为基础的研究，我打算利用原创纺织艺术品的实验和创作过程来调查和补充跨理论著作以及更广泛的当代纺织领域。我研究的主要主题将包括纺织实践如何在身体物质、时间和空间方面消除界限，作为拒绝识别或创造新身份的一种方式，专注于这样一种观念，即身体“不是形状，而是形状的构造”(Salamon，2010：30)。通过研究与跨性体验有关的酷儿未来感和亲密关系的想法，我感兴趣的是使用纺织品来颠覆人们的预期，即时间、空间和权力如何被视为政治可能性的重新想象或丢弃。将我的研究放在工艺和纺织理论的范围内，一个关键话题将是对“马虎艺术”的更广泛分析，以及马虎和失败如何被用作破坏稳定和改变人们对工艺的传统预期的力量。通过研究手工艺中的过度、夸张和过度表现的主题，我将研究玩维度的能力是否允许在化身和身份上有更广泛的可能性，或者这是否加强了跨性别艺术家的刻板印象和二进制。将纺织技术与构建自我的跨性别经历一起视为交织在一起的“感觉知识”(Vaccaro，2014：97)不仅集中了跨性别人士的声音，还可能扰乱这两个领域的权力、技能和生产等级。我特别感兴趣的是研究劳动和手工艺之间的关系，以及贬低身体和他们的工作的影响，因为这既涉及跨性别经历，也涉及关于手工艺的政治经济学思想。

The aim of this practice-based research is to explore how trans and non-binary people use a variety of textile-based practices, tools and techniques to express their identity and experiences. By considering my own process of handcrafting textile art as a way to challenge narratives of transgender bodily boundaries that are often confined to pathologized language and limiting concepts of 'trans-ness', I intend to examine where concepts of materiality connect trans studies and textile art. Within this research I will also seek to locate my work in the wider context of contemporary transgender and non-binary artists who centre or include textiles in their practice. My research questions are:- By creating work that is messy, incomplete and unordered, how does the process and outcome of my practice challenge institutional narratives on trans experiences and trans studies?- How do transgender and non-binary artists use different textile techniques, tools and practices to reflect embodied knowledge? - How does this work challenge hierarchical boundaries of textile art and traditional ideas of skill? Through practice-based research, I intend to use the process of experimentation and creation of original textile artwork to investigate and add to trans theoretical writings as well as to the wider contemporary textile field. The key topics in my research will include how textile practices can play with the removal of boundaries in terms of bodily materiality, time and space as a way to refuse identification or create new identifications, focusing on the idea that the body 'is not a shape but the construction of a shape' (Salamon, 2010: 30). Through examining ideas on queer futurity and intimacy in relation to trans experiences, I am interested in the use of textiles to subvert expectations on how time, space and power can be viewed as either a reimagining or discarding of political possibility. Situating my research within craft and textile theory, a key topic will be a wider analysis of 'sloppy art,' and how sloppiness and failure can be used as a force for destabilisation and changing conventional expectations of craft. Through researching the topics of excess, hyperbole and overperformance in crafts, I will examine whether the ability to play with dimensions allows for wider possibilities on embodiment and identity or if this reinforces stereotypes and binaries for trans artists. Viewing textile techniques alongside trans experiences of constructing the self as intertwined 'felt knowledge' (Vaccaro, 2014: 97) not only centres trans voices but also contains the potential for disrupting hierarchies of power, skill and production in these two areas. I am particularly interested in investigating the relationship between labour and craft, and the implications of devaluing bodies and their work as it relates both to trans experiences alongside ideas on the political economy of craftwork.