People outside gender norms have always existed. Starting with the work of gay liberation activists Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, this piece dives into the importance of trans equality now. Many from the LGBTQ+ community of the late '60s and early '70s believed that central to oppression is the patriarchal family structure of bourgeois society. That unfree way of life— as being nuclear, authoritarian, patricentric, monogamous— results in the oppression of women by men and of children by parents.

My collage is a visceral reaction to the global myth of an equality of opportunity propagated by a social system that defines sex roles in such a limiting way as to violate universal human rights. The warriors listed hereon served to combat against realities of injustice, oppression and inequity found in the face of colonial gender norms. I employ symbolism through various materials like a pearled veil and drugstore makeup, and utilize some of my own photography as well as periodical archives and magazine imagery.

A movement which understands that the quality of a relationship is more important than the gender of the people in it extends beyond the timeline of my research, encompassing the history of ancient civilizations through, of course, today. This piece, rooted in historical documentation, is largely inspired by the work of Leslie Feinberg.