Mx.D.P

This is a living document for the next few weeks until this project is complete. You will need to check back for updates:

The animation is complete and has been entered into the ARTS SU LGBTQIA+ History Month 2024 Film Call Out 2024 Film screening at Close Up Cinema, Shoreditch, I doubt they will accept it, I am proud of this film it is very challenging in every regard but censorship maybe an issue as it’s a public screening. (update it wasn’t accepted, I wasn’t surprised)

This was the artist statement for this work:

It’s all going on at Mx Farm. They are trying to Save the Earth with a new farming policy of using Hu-Cows. Things are not what they seem! Or are they?

The production of beef and dairy products contributes to approximately 14.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Cows produce methane, a potent greenhouse gas, both exhaled and farted. The production and transportation of feed, as well as the processing and distribution of dairy products, all contribute to emissions.

It has a considerable impact on land usage. Animals raised for slaughter now surpass animals in the wild by a ratio of 15 to 1. It requires significant land and water resources. The water consumption is enormous, the irrigation of feed crops, cow drinking water, and cleaning dairy equipment. Manure can lead to water pollution, as nutrients and pathogens can enter water bodies and harm aquatic ecosystems.

Our lust for meat and dairy is killing the planet.

Reality has to be faced, and what better way to do that than with the extraordinarily vulgar and dirty humour of Mx. Hu- Cow Farm and their ‘Titty milk dairy rebellion’.

Mx Recruiter is recruiting for the Mx Farm. They end up joining the farm as a Hu-Cow. The other characters are Terry, the Sperm Collector and Bully – she is a Transgender Bull… yes, literally tits on a bull.

My focus is Geo-political climate crisis and its intersectionality with my gender identity. I see myself as a Contemporary Non-Binary Dadaist on a Transmission.

Trigger warning: it’s very rude! You have been warned!

The Boob paintings have been riveted not easy with a permanently dislocated shoulder!

I made a proforma to sight the rivets on each window corner. Using a spare rivet and an ink pad I stamped a guide in each corner.

I’m using cattle ear markers as spacers for the windows.

Cattle are tagged so they can be identified for traceability after slaughter and used to track disease outbreaks. They also ensure that the animal has come from a British farm. Meat and dairy is big business and has become heavily industrialised.

Cattle must be identified with a pair of approved ear tags and have been issued with a passport. This identity and documentation must stay with the animal throughout its life. The British Cattle Movement Service (BCMS) must be informed of any movements and deaths, so it seemed appropriate to include them in some aspect of this work.

I’ve been experimenting with hang dimensions. In a single line it would be over 7 meters long and 240cm in a 3 across 8 down configuration without the boob bucket. Being able to transport the piece and hang it in multiple ways will give me flexibility for the hang at CSM.

My next stage is the boob bucket…

I’m updating this blog as I make. Today, as we were on the weekly Zoom and looking ‘around us’ I thought of a different way to tie the windows. It’s stronger and neater. My thoughts looking at a busy work bench eventually gave the thought, this piece is coming together… What started as a gel plate meditation has developed into a interdisciplinary way of communicating ideas…

This is the first draft and the final draft for the posters for the QR code link to the film for the CSM Interim Show.

I’ve started bringing together the costume for Mx Recruiter and their recruitment performance. Tomorrow I’ll be attempting the casting for the boob bucket!

The Boob casting went surprisingly well! It was a boob wrap with plaster of Paris bandage. I was then able to sculpt the shape ready to use as a proforma for the latex boob sculpture and the eventual plaster sculpture.

I posted the results of my boob proforma on one of my non-binary social spaces and have had a tremendous response. Many FTM trans people have done something like this or would like to do this. Surprisingly few said they never wanted to see their boobs again. We discussed gender dysphoria and how chest feeding helped some of us but not others, as did piercing after feeding, to reclaim them. These ideas will appear in the final sculptures.

This project has had profound meaning for me on so many levels that it will take time to reflect on how it has changed me… but I feel it has.

Next stage is latex modelling and the performance writing. I did think about leaflets, but as I wrote them, it took the Dadaesque fun out of the piece, and during the tutorial with Jonathan, we talked about the need for ambiguity within art, so leaflets were changed for postcards. The draw started to forge ideas for the performance…