Deep down, I’ve always been aware of my queerness: an otherness about me, a deviation from the norm. We live in a world that’s shaped by societal expectations and heteronormative views: a world that constantly confronts and harms marginalised groups with this otherness. In Through Queer Eyes and Soft Gazes, I artistically explore the painful parts of growing up as a (queer) woman and how I try to free myself from these seemingly inescapable feelings. Captured through photography and poetry, I search for my body’s liberation in intimate moments and soft spaces.

In this work I explore the raw, ugly, and hard parts of growing up as a (queer) woman, as well as the beautiful magic that queerness and womanhood can bring. The final installation was a part of the Graduation Show for the Master Institute of Visual Cultures, class of 2022.

How do you look at your body? And how did society influence this view?

“the (internalised) homophobia,
                  it still touches me every day.

though i have slowly accepted my own queerness, more and more -
   
         over the years, the feeling of discomfort still lingers.

it is hidden in small gestures and roaming in large spaces.
              it lingers through my body.

i still feel it in spaces, near people
where queerness is not yet fully accepted

i feel it when i watch the news,
i feel it in my veins
i feel it like i feel a bruise
that never really goes away.”