ARTWORK TEXT

"I'm interested in non-conventional forms of beauty, and perceptions of what it means to be 'feminine'."

I've always been an outsider, and as such I've always been drawn to others who exist outside of the mainstream.

My work isn't me telling you to see people a certain way, it is about allowing you to do it for yourself. To put it bluntly: With my portraits of trans women, even though you see a penis, you see a woman. It is not just my subject that identifies as a woman, you identify her that way also.

In some parts of Mexico the average age of a trans woman is 32: suicides and a lot of murders. Not only do trans women have to deal with the appalling levels of violence against women in Mexico (where, according to a 2018 UN report, 9 women are murdered each day) at the same time they struggle to be accepted as women in a society dominated by a machismo catholic culture. In other words, they face violence for being a woman and for not being a woman.

Of course this is not exclusive to Mexico. It is prevalent in all patriarchal monotheistic cultures, so I need to talk to as broad an audience as possible.

To make these pictures as accessible as I can, I strive to make images that are so aesthetically pleasing they draw you in before you realise what you're looking at. By combining the familiar with the unfamiliar (be it incorporating collages of posters I rip off the streets or appropriating familiar formats such as album covers or religious scenes) I try make it easier for the viewer to sidestep any feelings of shame, and enter into the world of the piece. This is about revealing what is under the surface of the everyday - and one of the areas of uncertainty for people who are unfamiliar with trans women, that makes them uncomfortable or fearful, is the question 'How does it all work?' (physically) - and with that mystery gone, the viewer sees the model as a person, and that is a huge step right there.

I want people to be able to see my models as I see them, and, outside of porn one doesn't usually see nude images of transsexuals. Porn isn't inherently bad - but it should not be the only place where someone is visible.

The starting point for my work is photography - both of my models and of textures on the walls around Mexico City, I then combine these photographic elements digitally to create what I consider captures the 'moment'. As a photographer I'm competent but I have two decades of experience working as a digital artist, so it is in the computer that I have the most control over the image. Someone like Annie Leibovitz can probably capture someone in one click of the shutter, but I need to spend some time in the computer to get to that point! I then work with the image to make the most beautiful thing I've ever made - and the next stage is to print up this digital image and destroy it. Really. I print it up large scale, and paint and collage upon it - to the point that I start freaking out, and thinking 'Oh god this is a catastrophe, I don't know what I'm doing!' - and it's important to reach that point - on the verge of panic - and then I have to work the image back to make it something that exceeds what I thought was possible, more beautiful than I could have imagined. So it's a roller coaster ride. A journey. Each piece is like that - if you don't have that stage of panic, then it's no longer art - it becomes just 'design' ... and you're cheating your subject really. The pieces are portraits - and the mood of the moment must come through - a glimpse of the model's personality, of yours and of the moment. You have to be honest, and to do that you have to put yourself out of your comfort zone - and for me, that's out of the computer.

You might think you can tell, when looking at a finished piece, where one technique ends and another begins - what is digital and what is paint or collage - but when you look closely it's not so clear. And this blurring of definition echoes my thoughts regarding identity - it's the individual that counts - not technical distinctions.

The photographic and the tactile, the digital and the organic, stages of consideration for the viewer: everything is layers.

There is no need to politicise my work. As an artist I can provide a safe space where people, especially those who might otherwise feel uncomfortable with the subject matter, can take a few minutes to escape the noise of the political discourse and just look - and to see my models as I do. Social change happens within the individual.

One common question the work seems to raise is: 'What does it mean to be a woman?' - and that leads you to realise that maybe the label 'woman' isn't terribly useful. I know that some people can give birth and I can't - but is that one distinction really why pink razors cost more than blue ones? Or is 'woman' just a codeword to refer to someone you don't have to pay as much? Categories are only useful for people who want them to exist. There are other, quantifiable differences between us that are far more relevant when deciding people's livelihoods. (Gosh - one might be tempted to think that society's obsession with gender distinctions is just a patriarchal construct to enable sexism! Shock horror!)

It is the individual that counts, not technical distinctions. I like to say that I make pretty pictures of beautiful people - I hope you agree and that you see my models for who they are: People. Beautiful people.

MATT WILLIS-JONES, MEXICO CITY, 2018

Introducing Ivanna at External Morphologies

invite for unveiling at Capitan Gallo (Mexico City)

WHY BELIEVE IN GOD WHEN YOU CAN BELIEVE IN ME?
A portrait of Terry Holiday

Terry Holiday selfie with Lynda Moore Orozco (right) in front of her portrait 'Why Believe In God When You Can Believe In Me?'

Lynda Moore Orozco, getting dizzy upstairs at my exhibit at Capitan Gallo

EXHIBITIONS IN MEXICO CITY

14/06/2018 - 23/07/18 - Capitan Gallo - Solo show: 'Why Believe in God When You Can Believe in Me?'
22/03/2018 - 22/05/2018 - OTRA Art - Solo show: 'External Morphology'
01/03/2018 - 21/03/2018 - Galeria Aguafuerte
08/02/2018 - 27/02/2018 - Galeria Aguafuerte
19/02/2018 - 31/02/2018 - Galeria 665
12/01/2018 - 22/01/2018- Galeria Aguafuerte
12/12/2017 - 23/12/2017- Galeria Aguafuerte

LINK TO PAST WORK: 1997 - 2013 (London, Chicago, Oslo)