Multitransitional, 2020

When I first saw this word, I felt immediately validated. Potentially even more  validated than the moment I first realised I was trans. I didn’t even need a definition to know that it perfectly described an experience I thought I was alone in. 

Multitransitional describes a non-linear gender transition. It exists somewhere between genderfluditiy and detransitioning. “This particular artwork […] has moved about a bit in it’s history of getting to these railings” (Hill, 2020). 

When I was first asked if I’d like to show some work as part of Homotopia, I kept coming back to this word. I knew that I wanted to share it with as many people as possible, so I used this opportunity to show a big work to a large city in the hopes that if anyone in Liverpool was experiencing their gender like I am, they might see it and feel seen by it.

With the vast majority of my work, I’m trying to have a conversation with my community. The aim of this work isn’t to raise awareness amongst cisgender people. I want to offer this word to those who need it. 

It also makes reference to detransition, which is usually a rather taboo topic within the trans community. I wanted to gently confront my audience with the idea that someone can be transitioning and detransitioning simultaneously, and that detransition isn’t necessarily an inherently transphobic act.

“With it being in black and white, it’s not necessarily up for debate” (Palmer, 2020). I chose to deliberately present the word in black and white, in a serif font, to validate it. To give it some sense of academic standing, like other long and complicated words. 

I used the font Doves because, in 1916, it’s creator, Thomas Cobden-Sanderson, threw the font in the Thames. “His Last Will and Testament contained details of how he would ‘bequeath’ Doves type to the river, so it may be washed ‘to and from the great sea for ever and ever’” (Garfield, 2011). This is the perfect metaphor for the experience of being multitransitional. Moving forwards through gender, purely to be able to go back again, over and over; always returning with a slightly different presentation, just as I’m sure the blocks of the font were slowly worn into new shapes by the sea.

Garfield, S. (2011) Just My Type, London: Profile Books

Palmer, I., and Hill, R. (2020) Queer The City Art Crawl Episode 2 [Podcast]. 31 October. Available at: https://youtu.be/Dv6zZ-Quzu0?t=900 (Accessed 31 October 2020)

Multitransitional was commissioned for Homotopia’s Queer The City Art Crawl, and was on public display on the side of the Black-E, Nelson Street, Liverpool, until 15 November 2020