Uncovered: Behind the Curtain

If I’m being candid, I have never completely felt that my voice has ever been captured honestly in any blog update of social media post - I have trouble sifting through the myriad of thoughts trying to pick the perfect thing to say or report on. Should I make something light hearted to pander to friends and family and bring levity during dark times? Or speak to affirming gender identity? Or make a statement to acknowledge and perhaps even try to fight against one of the many injustices that we face by an overpowering/uncaring government? Maybe that’s why my posts are so sporadic. I just don’t know what to say or which side of myself to show. All I know is that I want to say something and try to make an impact of some kind and the only way that I can think to do that is by drawing and creating. That is where I feel like I have found myself and where I feel I can most authentically express what it is I want to say. I have been working on this and one other pen stippled work for the better part of two years and through it I have felt the discomfort of feeling the need to hide my identity from coworkers, doctors, acquaintances. I have had to conform to ideals that I do not embody and have had to face the fact that, officially under the eyes of the law, me along with many others do not have the right to make autonomous decisions for our own bodies. Here, in my work, I want to affirm and empower - to take back the right to your own body, gender, existence by denying others that sense of entitlement to it. To bring a sense of comfort in knowing you are not alone.