"all they want is my blood, my body, my reticence"
Category: Visual Art
Author(s): Will Engle
Presenter(s): Will Engle
"all they want is my blood, my body, my reticence" is designed to feel like a moment paused within time — a temporary frame in between the rising and falling, in between the melting and solidifying. Constructed from cardboard, paper and wax, this work calls upon materials that hold their volumes within space before being reshaped and modified into something new. As a queer person whose safety depended on reshaping myself for years on end, this transitory form is something I sought to harness and explore for myself. The queer body is a vessel that constantly shapes and reshapes itself. To be queer is to change, to grow, to mold a space for yourself in every space you exist within. Every word, every mannerism and every action is predicated upon accepting the danger of being; for many — including me — that willingness to accept is fading. Each day brings worse news for the future of queer people. The wax forms we constructed for ourselves are being melted for us. Our blood is being spilled, our bodies are up for debate and our reticence is returning.