Embroidery
No Longer Available
Completed
2021
Medium
Embroidery hoops, Found objects, Fabric, Altered Photos, Ink, Pins, Lace, Cicada wings
Dimensions
variable
Description
The artificial structure of the gender binary built into society has been an important focus in my work as I dissect and rearrange it. Throughout history, the strict gender binary of male and female has not always existed, many cultures recognize more than 2 genders, and there are more than 7 divine genders that are recognized in sacred Jewish texts, while in Māori culture, there is another identity known as ‘irawhiti’ and ‘Takatāpui’. Coming from multiple cultures with different views on gender, I look at the world through a critical lens of how gender is represented and expects people to perform their gender roles, and how these expectations fluctuate from culture to culture. Examining the artificial structure that confines people to ‘male’ or ‘female,’ and what it means to be ‘masculine’ or ‘feminine’ through materials, objects, and other visual cues. I explore my identity and the ways that visuals and objects can express ideas about gender through the use of materials like feathers, thread, rusty safety pins, lace, and screws. In Embroidery, the fabric is important to my work through the way that it can morph, alter, or disguise one's appearance. Creating work that extends out and around the traditional ‘frame’ through the inclusion of the embroidery hoop is important to me because the idea that gender identity must conform to specific qualities/appearances boxes people in and is why I use images and objects in a manner where it is possible to see that multiple interpretations and interactions of objects or materials can exist within the expression of identity without much change. Using specific colors as a way to signify the gender binary but also the transgender pride flag is important to my work to signal to the views that the work is about gender.
About this Artist
Marshall Ransfield
Marshall Ransfield is an interdisciplinary artist born in New York and raised in New Zealand and New Jersey. He currently resides in Phenix City, AL, and received his BFA with a minor in art history at Columbus State University, in Columbus, GA. His artwork often explores personal narratives around identity, gender, and queerness as a Jewish, Māori, and transgender person. He has exhibited work in Columbus, GA at the Highland Galerie, Artlab, Illges Gallery, Schley Gallery, and the Rankin Gallery. He has also exhibited his work outside of Georgia at the School of Art + Design at Ohio University in Athens, OH, the Fowler-Kellogg Art Center in Chautauqua, NY, and the Erie Art Museum in Erie, PA.
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