ofkarmaandcontradictions:

I have been told again and again from teachers and curators and gallery owners that I need to develop a body of work.

Until this point, my style and themes have been all over the place (though I did go through that phase in 2009 that centered around eyes and sight as subject matter…). If you were to look at all of my work, for the most part, you’d think that different artists created each piece. There’s no continuity or distinctive style that sets me apart from every other artist. Believe me, I’ve tried to identify my style, and it really sucks that I don’t really have one.

But there is one thing that sets me apart from most artists… And that’s social justice. 

If you follow my SJ blog, then you know exactly what I’m talking about. Racism, sexism, misogyny, cissexism, heterosexism, double standards, cultural appropriation (haha), classism, ableism, binarism, monosexism, rape culture, oppression and intersectionalityyy… I deal with it all as one huge connected web of privileged bullshit. 

But of course, to create a body of work, I can’t really focus on oppression as a whole. That’s a huge theme that’s way too broad.

But do I really want to use my art to communicate about oppression? I mean, yes, it would be one hell of a body of work that would probably speak loudly and make people bloody uncomfortable with their privilege… but I try to keep my SJ self and my art self different in the sense that my art is the side of me that doesn’t exhaust me. Well, it does, but not nearly as much as blogging about SJ does. Being a part of fighting oppression is so very worth it, but it’s still extremely draining of energy. For once, I kind of want to create something… happy.

Which is why I’d like to create something that won’t leave me in angry tears (because believe me, it’s happened before, both with blogging and art), but will celebrate something. I want it to be empowering.

Switching to something more personal, as I struggle to understand my own gender, I find myself basically in awe of gender as a whole… I want to explore gender through my artwork. And hell, maybe I’ll finally figure out my gender in the process, as it is a bit of a confusing mess.

My goal is to show the diversity of gender expression.

But in order for this project to happen, I need your help!

I would really appreciate it if you could submit or email a photo of yourself that follows the guidelines below!

Guidelines for submission:

• Submit here (but if trolls start pouring in, I’ll have to disable the submit box, which leaves your only option for submitting to be via email) or email me at karmaandcontradictions@gmail.com
• Please include your name (I’d prefer to have your first and last, but just a first name is fine), gender identity, pronouns, words that you feel best describe your gender expression, age, and a URL (your tumblr or email address maybe) where I can credit your photograph that I use to create that piece.
• All of the above information will be displayed alongside the piece.
• Photos can be of full body, shoulder up, sitting down, standing up, etc…
• You can submit multiple photos of yourself.
• No nudity please… Sorry! 
• Anyone can be a part of this! And I mean everyone when I say it. I’d like to see submissions from people of color, fat people, queer people, disabled people, trans* people (especially trans* people considering that this project’s focus is on the diversity of gender expression), neuroatypical people, and other oppressed individuals.

What I’ll do with these images: I plan on using your submissions to create a series of drawings or paintings (haven’t decided yet). I will tell you right now that the image I create will not be a carbon copy of what you submitted because I am really not that good of an artist, and I may have to tweak the composition and colors a little (but I won’t change the entire image, I promise. I’m trying to share your story through art, not create a new character based off of you)

I have no idea how many submissions I’ll get for this, but chances are that I won’t be able to use all of the submissions I get. I never promised that your photo will be used, but I’ll do my best. I plan to do maybe fifteen to twenty portraits (but this will probably change as I get deeper into the project). Feel free to ask me questions here.

Let me just say that I am extremely excited about this.

Thanks!