We Give Us Our Roses

Rats, teacups, and eggs: There is a not-so-secret code of imagery favored among the trans community. These images were in abundance at The Factory during the opening of t4t on June 12, where hundreds of people showed up over the course of several hours to view a wide range of works from 31 local trans artists. Along with the rodents and tea party paraphernalia, artists brought kinky comics, gender reassignment trading cards, and irreverent portraits of genitalia, all celebrating trans intimacy. Other works include paintings, illustrations, leather works, ceramics, sculpture, glass mosaics, microscopy art, and several interactive pieces.

“The show is made by our community, for our community,” said curator Al Pastries, whose own mosaic work is on display in the exhibit. “It is open to everyone who celebrates our lives.”

At the entry, visitors were greeted by a long table covered with roses—a piece by the artist Madeleine titled, The Banquet. The words, “Please take a rose if you’re trans, or wish you were,” followed by “Eat well,” were framed in blue and pink at the table. Inside the Factory, Karl Cassel offered a special sheet of flash tattoos ready to be inked on the night of the reception, with designs featuring rats, roses, high-femme heels, and teacups.

Originally code for “trans for trans” in online dating, T4T has expanded to an ethic of trans people loving and supporting each other. Community is key to both the spiritual and literal survival of trans people, and the intimacy of in-group conversation amid tight-knit communities contributed to some shared language: Tea and teacups are a symbol for the “T” of transness (or testosterone, or HRT). Rats have become the animal patron saint of trans folks (you may have seen the rat mosaic on the Lincoln Reservoir Gate House in Cal Anderson Park). And eggs (uncracked, cracking, and/or cracked) signify trans self-actualization. Of course, those are just some generalized interpretations.

“There are a lot of layers to our culture,” Al said. “A lot of references built upon references, a lot of playfulness and conversation between the artists in the show that [some might] see and not understand. I would hope they would walk away with a sense of awe or just the depth of our culture and our understanding and care for one another.”

The list of artists at t4t is robust, including Amanda James Parker, Anonymouse, Bubonicats, Erin Egg Hurley, Gemini Sister, Glitter, June September, Karl Cassel, Kevin Barrett, Kirby Stolzoff, M Dillinger, Madeleine, Margo, María Dolores A. Matienzo, Molly Vaughan, Oli Lommen Anderson Bigley, Oliver Hyde, Olivia of Liv Healing Arts, Puck Bartelby, Ralph Houser, Raqa Down, Red Angus, Rivka Clifton, Rowen Foster, Silver Barcohav, Siobhan Teahan, Swerv Wizely, Sarah Timm, Val (Valeria Espinal), Zander Salander, and Al Pastries.

For some works, the imagery is literal, like Zander Salander’s Piss Party comic and an ink and watercolor painting from their series Wounds, a portrait of a healing gender confirmation surgery. Oli Lommen Anderson Bigley debuted a new work for the show, a sweet and tender painting of them and their wife cuddling, a nod to Klimtz’s The Kiss. Molly Vaughan’s series T4T intimacy are snapshots of T4T sexuality and desire.

Trans intimacy is hyper-literal in Human Resources Tension (H.R.T.), by Val (Valeria Haven Espinal). The work shows samples—gathered by Val’s coworkers—of things human, synthetic, and plant-based, including estrogen and testosterone, vitamin B12, skin cells, and cells from a jade vine. Placed between microscope slides, the various materials overlap to produce brand new iterations and versions that come into focus. Plant cells that look like bubble wrap under the microscope take on purple and blue hues when stained by B12.

Among the interactive works is ASPIRÉMONOS by María Dolores A. Matienzo’s, a sound composition made from recordings of breath from 20 trans people played on turntables with two lathe-cut square records. Visitors are invited to don a pair of headphones and listen to ASPIRÉMONOS play, while also squeezing a bulb that pushes air through a tube—a way of adding their own “breath” to the layers of sounds.

A text accompanying the piece instructs:

Think of a time another trans person made you feel trans joy.
Start recording.
Inhale audibly, as if you breathed in that bliss when you felt it.
Exhale audibly, as if you were sharing your breath with someone else to spread that exuberance.
Let that breath become a sound that radiates the joy.
Stop recording.
Thank the person who made you feel that joy.

Other work expressed trans connection beyond literal terms with animals, cryptids, fantastical worlds, and spirituality, like Al’s own Community Protects. The impressive 36-square-foot tourmaline crystal and stained glass mosaic shows “our Alligator Saint” carrying two rats over the seas to safety. The mosaic ocean is also home to humpback whales, a tie to another artist’s work: Glitter’s t4t humpback angel installation, and trans angels are watching piece.

“Cis-normative medical institutions aren't going to get us, legal systems aren't going to get us, our cis families aren't going to get us. We just have to develop those models and those systems amongst ourselves,” said Rivka Clifton, a poet, author, and artist. “Instead, we have to just talk to one another and experience one another. Piece together what works for us.”

Clifton created a new installation for t4t called, in a body my same size, featuring a teacup suspended above an egg in a cocktail glass. The teacup is balanced in the air by the weight of 36 washers, each taped to a QR code. Viewers are instructed to cut the washers off one by one and scan the QR codes that link to segments of Clifton’s essays. When all the washers are cut off, the teacup falls and cracks the egg, and the yolk slowly eeks out in the glass. The collective action of the piece offers a powerful image of how trans people can lead others to their own awareness.

“I was thinking about all the subtle ways that other trans people kind of showed me how it is okay to be trans,” Clifton says. “That got me thinking about the ways that as a community we’re all entwined, we’re all realizing who we are, and that [teacup] was the mechanism that dramatized that idea.”

t4t itself is entwined in a greater blooming of trans art across the city, apparent in efforts like. Cutie Fest, Collective Motion, TheQueerAgendaDotGay, Queer Culture Club, and Amplifying Trans Joy. As for t4t the exhibit, you can catch it at least two other Fridays this month: on June 20, from 6-9 p.m., and June 27, from 3-8 p.m. For both trans people and those blessed to witness, t4t offers a loving glimpse of trans communities in conversation, and a chance to experience the intimacy of being deeply seen. ◼︎

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Mark Van Streefkerk is a freelance writer, journalist, and editor. He is currently the Arts, Culture, & Community Editor for South Seattle Emerald. You can find out more about him at markvanstreefkerk.com and on Instagram at @markthewriter.