VanDykesTransDykesTransVanTransGrandmxDykesTransAmDentalDamDamn
2014-2020
Yarn, leather, lace, upcycled bike inner tubes, metal studs, zippers, shoelaces, hacked Lite Brites, lurex, thread
168 x 240 in
426.72 x 609.6 cm
The piece is shown on the wall, installation images upon request.
Constructed of materials such as shoelaces, upcycled bike inner tubes, zippers, Lite Brites, patchwork black leather, and metal studs, the piece pays homage to pioneering lesbian, queer, and transgender histories and ruminates on the promises and problems of queer and alternative kinship structures, nomadism, landlessness, movement, and identity.
Tactics of humor, deviance, endurance and resilience serve as an entryway to address my anxiety over imminent environmental and economic collapse while simultaneously examining my roots as a fifth generation Detroiter who grew up steeped in car culture and how to imagine what could emerge out of these circumstances. The project remixes multiple published narratives that document queer/transgender conversion van culture including an article on the Van Dykes, a lesbian van gang that traversed North America in the 1970s, by Ariel Levy that appeared in The New Yorker in 2009 and Vanifesto, a zine by Haddasah Damien about contemporary queer and trans people who today have revived the transient and creative culture of van gangs.
