The Vitruvian Queer

Description

Multimedia art piece inspired by Da Vinci’s “The Vitruvian Man”.

Gender-ambiguous figures with mushrooms for heads are posed inside a circle and a square decorated with grape leaves. Behind them are the wings of a Luna moth. Above and below there is text in cursive mirror writing.

Top text:
“Escaping definition in our
Seeking of the light,
It is not for empty defiance that
We leave your boxes.
Instead for a peace within,
An understanding of self—
For that we have no honest choice
But to venture beyond the boundaries
You assigned for us at birth.
I am paradoxical;
I exist in mutually exclusive states
Simultaneously,
And for this I once felt
A constant urge
To apologize.
Now I am glad to be
An embodied contradiction
To this inverted society,
And feel no obligation
To explain myself.”

Bottom text:
“I’ve finally learned to live happily
Here at the intersection of ‘too much’
And ‘not enough.’
Here I rise from my knees at the burial ground
For sins that I no longer claim.
My shame healed no one,
Least of all me.
But maybe my bold existence—
Vulnerable, bright,
Radical with acceptance
Empathy and advocacy—
Can be medicinal.
This is my dissent.
This is my rage into art.
This is my pain into joy.
This is my kintsugi.
Celebrate with me,
Or go,
And leave me to the light.”