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

这项基于实践的研究旨在探索跨性别和非二元性别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，作为一种挑战跨性别身体界限的叙述的方式，这种界限通常局限于病态的语言和限制“跨性别”的概念，我打算研究物质性的概念在哪里将跨性别研究和纺织艺术联系起来。在这项研究中，我还将寻求在当代跨性别和非二元艺术家的更广泛背景下定位我的作品，这些艺术家在他们的实践中以纺织品为中心或包括纺织品。我的研究问题是：通过创作混乱、不完整和无序的作品，我的实践过程和结果如何挑战跨性别经历和跨性别研究的制度性叙述？-跨性别和非二元性别艺术家如何使用不同的纺织技术、工具和实践来反映具体化的知识？-这件作品如何挑战纺织艺术的等级界限和传统的技能观念？通过以实践为基础的研究，我打算通过实验和创作原始纺织品艺术品的过程来调查和增加跨理论写作以及更广泛的当代纺织品领域。我研究的关键主题将包括纺织实践如何在身体物质性、时间和空间方面消除界限，作为拒绝认同或创造新认同的一种方式，重点关注身体“不是形状，而是形状的构造”（Salamon, 2010: 30）。通过研究酷儿的未来和与跨性别经历相关的亲密关系，我对使用纺织品来颠覆人们对时间、空间和权力如何被视为对政治可能性的重新想象或抛弃的期望很感兴趣。将我的研究定位在工艺和纺织理论中，一个关键主题将是对“草率艺术”的更广泛分析，以及如何将草率和失败用作破坏稳定和改变传统工艺期望的力量。通过研究工艺品中过度、夸张和过度表现的主题，我将研究玩弄维度的能力是否允许在体现和身份上有更广泛的可能性，或者这是否会强化跨性别艺术家的刻板印象和二元性。将纺织技术与构建自我的跨性别经验视为交织在一起的“感觉知识”（Vaccaro, 2014: 97），不仅集中了跨性别的声音，而且包含了在这两个领域破坏权力、技能和生产等级的潜力。我特别感兴趣的是研究劳动和工艺之间的关系，以及贬低身体和他们的工作的含义，因为它既涉及到跨经验，也涉及到工艺的政治经济学。

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.