homoquilt, vicariousness and affirmation

This is old news, but in 2008 some friends and I were doing a queer craft group in Brisbane. We did a bunch of patchwork bees and I quilted it all together for The Sportman's Hotel annual LGBT bake and craft auction. If I remember correctly it raised somewhere between $600-$700 for PFLAG and the Australian Transgender Support Association of QLD.

I bring it up now because I made this patch:

I was going to make a whole series of these penises ejaculating different affirmations and pet names. I'd still like to. But this is where the idea came from for the mustard font on the hotdogs.

I've been thinking a lot about vicariousness in trans experience, how it's something that I don't want to do, it doesn't make me feel great and is bundled up with essentialism and doesn't affirm my experience with my body/gender. I'm making some changes to the kinds of relationships and sexuality I have to not play into vicariousness (if you don't know what I mean, I'm talking about fetishising and experiencing the kinds of bodies I want via other people).

I'm realising that it exists in the art that I make and it's something I want to be aware of and confront. I kinda want to embrace it and hyper do it but in a way that critiques it at the same time. How to achieve that is something to think about.

If anyone wants to talk to me about vicariousness, I would love that!

Here's some of the other patches from the quilt:

by Jackson

by Marde

by me.