SELF PoilTRAIT

2023 

light blue oil-absorbing sheets, black pillowcase

20 x 26 inches

This piece bookmarks my trans-masculine second puberty. I was so hot, sweaty, and oily until my 3rd and 4th year on HRT (hormone replacement therapy). I no longer menstruated, so I no longer had monthly breakouts. My skin thinned and the fullness of my cheeks decreased as my beard hair became thicker.

One of my OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) traits is to obsessively pick my skin   and pop pimples which made the experience more painful and bloody. I didn't want to go on meds, so I relied on these oil absorbing sheets daily.

As of January 2026, I have been off HRT for    1.5 years. My beard has  thinned out, and I use  a close shave electric razor most days. My skin didn't flip out with the rise in estrogen levels, and I get 1 pimple a month with my cycle. The fullness came back to my cheeks for the most part, though I am older and it's different from    my pre-testosterone 20s.

With the slashing of trans rights in the United States echoing that of WWII Germany, my work is an outlet for silenced voices.

This self portrait was inspired by David Hammons’ piece Injustice Case, a full body print on paper with an American Flag wrapped frame. Where Hammons’ work references African American history, culture, and his own lived experiences, my work reflects transgender history, culture and my own lived experience. He used baby oil on the body and chair to create prints on paper, then sprinkled with pigment- a signature technique. I immediately thought of oil-blotting sheets, a technology that did not exist during the years he was active. 

Injustice Case (1971) is part of his body print series and is in reference to the judicial misconduct against Bobby Seale who was on trial for conspiracy as a member of the Chicago Eight. After Seale was refused an attorney of his choice, a judge also denied Seale’s request to represent himself. The same judge later ordered that Seale be bound to his chair and gagged in front of the jury overseeing the trial after a verbal confrontation”