We asked curator Sara Castelo Branco for a closer look to the works of our current Exhibition Dissident Bodies:
Part 2: Esse McChesney (Gothenburg)
Esse McChesney’s figurative tapestries and embroideries aims at capturing the invisible layers that affect how we perceive everyday life. Everything melts together: feelings, bodies, identities, environments. In their work, they explore gender and sexuality in between the physical and digital, from the perspective of a queer non-binary trans person.
Let´s try (2023) shows a torso with highlighted scars from gender reassignment surgery, but there are also symbolic motifs such as a two-headed dragon and a pair of hands caught in a dramatic gesture. Relieving the body of the pressure to be representative, McChesney allows it to be beautiful, desirable, fragile, strong, and human.
Image: @ M. Moser
