Tranimacies and Affective Trans Embodiment in Nina Arsenault's Silicone Diaries and Cassils's Becoming an Image

ABSTRACT

In Nina Arsenault's Silicone Diaries and Cassils's Becoming an Image, the artists perform trans embodiment through engaging with the animacy of silicone and clay. Arsenault and Cassils work toward defining trans embodiment as affective entanglements with (in)animate objects and foreground trans agency, creation, and movement.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Trans performance has always been linked to the autobiographical, since, as Heddon argues, “the majority of artists who use autobiography in their work are marginalized subjects,” including people of color and queer or trans performers (2). Early trans performances such as Annie Sprinkle and Les Nichols's Linda, Les and Annie, David Harrison's FTM, and Kate Bornstein's Hidden: A Gender all stem from the autobiographical and engage with the medical context. Contemporary trans performances such as Micha Cardenas's Becoming Dragon, Joey Hateley's A: Gender, Ivan Coyote and Rae Spoon's Gender Failure, and Sean Dorsey's Lou are similarly autobiographical but use a variety of approaches, including dance, musical performance, storytelling, comedy, and virtual gameplay to represent trans experiences and trans embodiment.

2. Elbe's memoir was first published in 1931 in Danish and in 1933 in English as Man into Woman: The First Sex Change, edited by Niels Hoyer. Lili: A Portrait of a Sex Change is the reedited version of the earlier book. Because of its posthumous publication and Hoyer's editing, the book is often considered a biography rather than the first trans memoir. However, it is based on Elbe's writing and it was Elbe's intent for Hoyer to act as editor and publish her story, so there is no reason not to consider it a memoir.