each one has its…
video, 9’13”, 2019
each one has its... uses literal “movement… of the body or limbs” to pull apart trans identity. The title, each one has its… references the quote “every rose has its thorns.” The title connotes repetition, and removes the references to rose and thorns, while keeping the format, to play with the idea of a metaphorical rose and thorns, the actions and reactions that both plague and bless the trans individual.
“Thinking about queerness through gesture animates how bodies move in the world,” says Juana María Rodríguez, “and how we assign meaning in ways that are already infused with cultural modes of knowing.” Looking at gesture through a queer lens, and the queer body through gesture each one has its... examines the contrast between body and identity.
Gesture in this work is defined through action, as well as the absence of gestures. Pressing flesh into thorns, ripping apart a grapefruit, shoving peels into the mouth, these actions bring tension and the gesture towards sexuality and violence. The combination of actions creates tension. In the extreme close ups are penetration of thorns on flesh, and the visceral wetness of the fruit. The fruit appears like genitals, and the skin becomes wet and dripping, becoming covered in sexual fluids. The combinations of fingers, mouth, fruit gesture towards an intense lingering sexual encounter. Jose Esteban Muñoz uses dance to explore the queer gesture, and how dance is coded in sexual experience. He discusses how queer dancing gestures towards past and future sex. “Sex, like energy, never disappears; it is simply transformed.” each one has its... references the absence of sex, the potential energy, and the past trace of sex. The forcing of fingers in the throat and the peel being regurgitated reference pain and sexual trauma.
Through these moments of repetition, time could be endless, and the gestures could continue infinitely. I reference the queering of gestures, and the absence of the cis body. The need to endure pain and trauma in order to dress, or dress up, as a way of existing in an incongruently gendered/sexed body. The “wrong body” narrative does not apply here. Instead, my trans body is somewhat absent. The work blurs male aggressive actions (fruit peeling, ripping flower petals) and feminine objects (roses, nail polish). What does the trans, non-binary gesture look like? In the day-to-day, the gestures collapse in on each other. Moments get lost in repetition.
The trans experience of incongruency with perceived gender, and the often present gender dysphoria, happens through the habitual existence. One’s own gaze towards the body, and each gesture, is often an act of or against this incongruency. Muñoz uses dance as an example to explore the way queer actions can create a sense of self and sense of community. These queer gestures in each one has its... examine self-recognition, and aim to serve a landing spot for queer recognition. The video is a site for other queer individuals, especially those who are othered, to see abstract gestures as ways of reflection on the trans experience.