Fetterman uses a multi-disciplinary and research-based approach to explore the complex and fluid nature of identity. As an Eastern European, first-generation American, they reference themes of Western history, mythology, and aesthetics to explore the politics of the queer body and its relationship to constructed space. Their desire is to create space that includes and normalizes queer bodies within film, media, and the art world, focusing on the necessity of a utopic liminal/transformational space that they have labeled as queer architecture to question/critique the role of socioeconomic class, gender structures, and hierarchies. They have shown around the West Coast, Northwest, and Southwest, most recently at the Henry Art Gallery in 2021. They hold an MFA from the 3D4M program at the University of Washington.

“The level of interconnected-ness and access to information through social media platforms is changing so fast. TikTok is a mind-blowing platform that allows anyone to make content that is as challenging as many works of art. Social media has exacerbated the timeline for everything. I’m interested to see how it continues to change arts’ accessibility. This, especially alongside the pandemic, is changing the art world faster than anything else.”

“Pleasure Palace is a work that I have been thinking about for a long time. The final form of it, and my understanding of what it represents, has altered over the years as a fluid, ephemeral thing, changing as my understanding of my identity has grown stronger. I knew that coming to the University of Washington for graduate studies would force me to deal with some of the stresses in my life that I could have avoided if I had stayed away. Like...coming out to my parents. LOL. I had reached a point in my life where I couldn’t hide it anymore, nor did I want to. Whether or not they knew is still a mystery to me. My work existed as a place and a framework for me to be able to explore identity and sexuality. My choice to make art wasn’t really an acceptable one within my family, forcing me to push myself to feel valid in their eyes and my own (I have obsessive work habits and am very particular, so all of these parental pressures are somewhat self-imposed). As my practice has progressed, more of the secrets that I held close, or didn’t know I had, have been exposed and released into the world, culminating at this moment in my seven-year journey as a pretty ridiculous coming-out story. I don’t know about you, but it seems extra, and let’s say it, gay of me (and fabulous, obviously) to feel the need to get a master’s degree, write this document, and make some art about it.”

“I have never been interested in whether an audience understands the inspiration or motivation behind my work. I think my work has existed for me as a tool or framework to analyze, break down, and build upon my understanding of what it means to exist. I hope that for any onlooker, the same thing happens but with themselves inserted into the framework the art does or does not present, while also creating space for and normalizing queer, trans, and femme bodies/identities in art. I hope there are enough access points within the work that many different types of people may relate to it on a personal level. It exists to create community and demonstrate strength, while also being didactic at the same time.”

Jasmine Fetterman

Liz Tran

Tara Tamaribuchi