Why Trans Art Matters

THE LINK
February 28, 2011

"Embark" by Johnston Newfield

CANADA -- Religious symbolism, art space and the curating process in Concordia’s student-led Art Matters Festival are some core questions at the center of recent speculation following a decision to deny local trans artist Johnston Newfield’s installation “Embark” into the exposition “Enter the Foam & Achieve Second Sight.” A “politically-charged reconstruction of spirituality and identity,” Newfield’s multi-media piece incorporates installation, looped sound and projection of drawings and symbols—including the Merkaba, a icon commonly recognized as akin to the Star of David, but predates its use in Judaism as a “divine light vehicle” to unite with higher realms of existence. “This piece is about me coming out as being Trans and how being Trans has inspired a search for re-imagining spirituality—specifically that gender is a spiritual experience,” explained Newfield, whose mother is a priest. “This perception was very clear in my artist’s statement, but I was told that it was the symbol [that was problematic].” The exhibition he pitched to, Enter the Foam & Achieve Second Light, curated by Jerome Nadeau and Patryk Stasieczek, deals with space “[that is] of the mind, abstraction revealing dimensions composed of altered states of holographic being. For Newfield, declining “Embark” for this direction exposes a trend in the art world that embraces “the curator as artist”—something Newfield believes is to the detriment of alternative and evocative artwork that could go against the predetermined themes. [link]