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On Comfort, 2017
Vinyl, Foam, Wool
The gay bathhouse is a paradoxical space today, simultaneously a holdover from a different era, and yet also a
space in which the gay male community can celebrate and behave freely. In creating a set of objects to reside in
this space, one predominately used by cis gay men, I created these cushions to materially reflect these
tensions in LGBTQ history. Using felt, the names of three trans women of color whose presence and activism led
the charge of equality, but have been overwhelmingly ignored by the community, are needled into the interior
foam of the cushions, backwards and on the bottom. The hope is that as the cushions are used by the people
of this space and eventually worn down, the names of these foremothers will be exposed, upright, in reverence
of the trans of color origins of queer community and in celebration that the doors still remain open.