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The Artistry of Queerness

Art Piece by Oriel Baker (she/her)

The Artistry of Queerness

Click on photo to see full Art Piece

The inspiration behind this piece came from personal experiences of queerness. I wanted to stress how liberating it is to just live with your identity. I find this especially important given the common struggle in childhood and beyond to accept, let alone outwardly express, queerness. I find a lot of inspiration in the way I see other queer people dress and hold themselves for this reason.

This piece was mostly compiled and edited digitally, but combines layers cut from photographs I had previously taken and a backdrop taken from part of an old painting of mine. On top of this, I added words I had noted down on paper and scanned. I wanted to use various methods and snippets of seemingly random media to show how many things can become artistic, even if you don’t recognise this yourself. That’s the general message of the piece: that the effort and passion that you put into your identity expression creates this unique artistry. How do you, personally, present your queerness? What pins do you add to your jacket? What jewellery do you put on in the morning? How do you do your makeup? What music empowers you?

Your unique choices require boldness, and this boldness can be incredibly liberating.

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