Octavian Grey Stickann
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What are you Wearing?
2024
What are you Wearing?, 2024, Screenprint on paper and mylar sheets, 12”x10”
Forging Form:A Dialogue with Masculinity
What are you Wearing?
Outside perception of gender and identity is something that will happen, intentional or nothing. Clothing specifically has always had an interesting relationship with gender. Using of a spectrum of clothing from traditionally feminine to traditionally masculine, I present the audience with the ability to change the way I present myself. There is not a right or wrong way to dress myself, but it does change the way that I represent my performance of gender expression.
This piece pulls together several concepts that I had been focusing on within my most recent body of work, Forging Form: A Dialogue with Masculinity. Having a conversation with gender and expression is important to experiencing one’s identity and the way that we interact with the world. Using the concept of childhood paper dolls as a proxy for this conversation allows the audience to pursue their own thoughts and feelings of dressing a “man” in a dress or full suit. There is also a sense of shock within the piece itself. In removing the clothing from the doll, the viewer my not have been aware of the doll’s sex or personal identifying gender. When an outfit is removed it is exposed that my figure is partially nude and the audience is faced with their own assumptions of the figure, confronting them to possibly change how they were perceiving the form in front of them. Curating a sense of introspection in the piece without having a written explanation can sometimes be tricky but I feel that this work achieves that feeling.