installation
prints
about
research

background

it’s not a phase emerged from my previous research about the history of queer design and printmaking, including the role printmaking played in disseminating information via flyers and zines during the peak of the AIDS crisis. This research has since evolved into an examination of the way queerness exists in present day design and print. From this research, I wanted to make personal work that emulates the values of queer design by embracing messiness and imperfection, while rejecting traditional standards of what makes “successful” art. With these ideas in mind, I decided to explore mono-screen printing; each print created with this method is completely unique, and the outcome is less predictable than traditional screen printing.

a collage of various prints, paintings, drawings, flyers, photographs, and buttons from queer history. Many of the flyers are from the AIDS crisis, with works of gran fury's ACT UP, andy warhol, keith haring, and others, while other pieces are more modern, discussing issues like rainbow capitalism.

definitions

monoprinting: any printmaking method that creates unique prints which cannot be replicated

mono-screen printing: a specific form of monoprinting that is similar to screen printing but involves drawing directly onto the screen with a water-soluble medium and then printing with a clear ink such as extender base. Stencils are not necessary, but I decided to use them in both my research and capstone project.

ghost print: a print created from the same matrix (in this case, the screen) after the original

A print table set up for mono-screen printing, with a screen propped up on a colorful ink-covered wooden block. On the screen, there is pink emulsion with a stencil that has been exposed to read 'it's not a phase, mom' in bubbly letters. In this image, the type isn't readable because it is colored over partly with a gradient of orange, yellow, green, and blue pastel. To the right of the screen, there is an open red case of water-soluble pastels in all colors.

quotes

“I also try to encourage students to take on things that they know nothing about, and to puzzle their way through it. I think that is a very queer thing to do. In the Queer Art of Failure, Jack Halberstam talks about how failure is a thing that queers are very good at doing, and are also used to doing. So I try to foster a space where the energy is towards making and not towards succeeding. I think that builds a stronger designer.” -nicole killian

“Capitalism rewards perfection—as defined by those in power. This is especially true in the art world, where the demand for smooth resolution and predictability creates unsustainable standards for who or what is allowed to be considered ‘successful’...New Prints 2022/Winter steps away from traditions of polish and perfection by making space for incompleteness, rawness, messiness, illegibility, risk, vulnerability, non-linearity, care, queerness, and non-normativity.” -unfinished, New Prints 2022/Winter exhibition statement

“At its heart, I think of being outwardly queer as a process of owning who you are. Growing more comfortable in that identity, or learning to enjoy the discomfort, and sharing it with the world. That experience can be as joyful as it can be painful. It can be celebratory, it can be defiant, and very often, it can be all of those things at once.” -John Voss of Queer Design Club

archives

queer design history are.na created collaboratively with Gabby Lambeth & Liz Oliver

synthesis are.na

test prints

6 monoprints arranged on a bright blue background. Each print is in various bright colors that read 'it's not a phase, mom' in bubbly letters, but the type is distorted and not very legible in some of them. They are messy, and the colors bleed into one another.
A close-up of one of the prints, with alternating colored letters in light blue, dark blue, magenta, purple, dark teal, and bright green. The letters are printed with the texture of pastels, and have white spaces where the colors didn't print fully.
A ghost print of the previous print, so the colors are the same but appear more wet and fluid, unlike the dry texture of the first print. The areas that were printed in the previous print are now lighter, and there are still white gaps in the type.
Another ghost print, made after the previous print. Much of the white space has been filled with a light blue, which was made from the other colors mixing together. The type is off-centered and there is smudging on the bottom from the ink bleeding through part of the screen that was taped off.
A new print of the same design but in an arc-shaped gradient of orange, yellow, green, and blue. The type is chalky and has a lot of white space, making it less legible.
A ghost print of the previous print, where the texture is more fluid and the colors bleed into each other and fill more of the white space.
Another print with letters in alternating colors of teal, light blue, purpl, pink, charteuse, and lime green. The type is chalky once again with a lot of white space.
A ghost print of the previous print in the same colors, with the type more fluid and filled in.
A ghost print of the previous print, with the colors bleeding even more, and some fuzzy lighter spots where the colors printed more faintly.
A ghost print of the previous print, which is very light and fuzzy, with some pops of color still showing through. The ink is bleeding outside of the original type stencil, but it is very faint.