"Vanity", by local artist Jacob Grant.
Dimensions: 48" x 46" (total hanging 60")
As a queer artist in Kentucky, I find a lot of my work circling back to artistic expressions of my own identity from when I began drawing, beginning to understand my sexuality, and while being policed for being less masculine than my male peers. My favorite images to draw when I was little were inspired by femme figures from fashion magazines. I admired the curvature and sense of confidence they exuded. Mindfully, my style and artistic expression has morphed since, as I continue to deconstruct and explore queer society’s beauty.
My piece, “Vanity,” utilizes a tapestry-like display of a portrait I had created years prior from yarn, wire, pearls, and various antique textiles. The image was originally painted to navigate the desire to build one self's admirability for the world, positioned to reject the mirror reflection behind her. Alternatively, my interest to understand the role of beauty within self-identity is dissolved by the choice to live as profoundly as my reflection in a mirror- unconditionally individual, distinct from the world’s policing of my own self-expression.