Sam Fedun

As a transgender man, I am always aware of my body and how others perceive it. I have physically and mentally changed so much just to be recognized as I am. The main idea behind my work is illustrating the ways the body is constantly gendered, and abstractly presenting my anxieties and dysphoria. Throughout my work, I use the forms of animals (both real and mythical) as a stand-in for my own body. I play with ideas of gender and dysphoria by using colour, animal and human gender indicators, and text in my pieces.

I enjoy experimenting with mediums, styles, and sizes to create different feelings. When I go into detail on my larger critters, I want viewers to feel some sense of discomfort and intimidation when sharing a space with these creatures. When I work at a small scale and use simplistic paint application, I want to amplify a feeling of childlike innocence that is sharply disrupted by details like the deep scars and harsh transphobic phrases marked into their little bodies.