betweox

I align myself with the philosophies of Agential Realism (2) and believe that we are materialised through intra-actions. (3) Existing as immaterial phenomenon, intra-actions happen through the interplay between agents. They are a phenomenon of action and the in-between that, as Karen Barad explains, “cut (things) together-apart (one move)”. (4) This cutting together-apart is understood by Barad as an agential cut and works to define individuality through difference or diffraction. The capacity of intra-action to do multiple things in one move and to exist in flux (unfixed spatially or temporally) (5) produces the phenomenon’s immateriality. I believe that one way we witness the intra-actions that define humans is through the body—as held in gestures or embodied utterances. By grounding betweox in the actions of queer bodies—whether as a kiss, carrying, embrace, intercourse, etc.—these works offer allegorical renderings of intra-action that navigate how queer intimacies bind and differentiate individuals.

Much like how intra-actions exist unfixed, and constantly evolving—the layers of the project betweox exist like liquid, entangled with one another. Queerness permeates throughout betweox—as a written score, as speech acts (6) that generate performative utterances, in the embodied histories expressed through gesture, and in my interventions that trace, erase, transfigure, and reimage/ine the phenomenon held in the space between (queer) people.

Intra-actions are what draw me into the betwixt. They are a phenomenon of the in-between—existing at the meeting points between agents in action. I chase glimpses of these meeting points as I explore what exists in the meta/physical spaces between people. I employ transformation, in collaboration with documents of action, to navigate the in-between. In betweox these transformations behave like interconnected nodes of a constellation, allowing me to travel the versioning (7) of agents (and myself) as generated by intra-actions. While this methodology has led to the creation of a variety of outcomes, the exhibited series of photo media works evolves my practice through experimentation with materiality, and process.

In betweox, the methodologies of transformation and documents of action, come together in complex and nuanced ways. The black and white images distil representational sources into abstracted photo media works. These are images of touch, as they remove everything other than the contact points between queer bodies. Materialising like vaporous drawings, these works tease out lines of intimacy and desire, as drawn out by the body. Similarly, the UV pigment prints on anodised (8) titanium engage with traces of touch to transform representational images into reimagining’s of straight photography. (9) These works are of the alchemy of the in-between, existing as complex layers of intermingling chemical, electrical, and visual transformations. Developed from digital drawings, and a process of masking and layering, the anodised titanium creates the colourful, liquescent forms. Interwoven with these are semi-translucent UV pigment prints that gently re/introduce the queer body. (I believe it is important to note that this is a unique photo media process that I have created through the experimentation and development of betweox).

In these works, I have focused on contact, or touch as evidence of agents (subjects) acting upon one another. However, in thinking through touch – physics would tell us that it is a sensation generated through repelling electrons, that touch is not what we assume, but instead, the electromagnetic tension between colliding matter that can never truly meet. (10) I am interested in the conundrum this presents – that the physical sensations of intimacy are the result of electromagnetic repulsion. This offers a means to measure the in-between, as a tangible electromagnetic sensation of the betwixt. In relation to the incorporeal (somewhat psychological) intra-action, the physics of touch offers interesting territory for further exploration of what exists between gestures of queer intimacy.

As a result of my attention towards the betwixt and my attempts to image the intangible intra-action, I have come to understand betweox's aesthetic as being non/representational (both abstract and figurative at once). At a distance these works appear to behave within the language of Queer Formalism, (11) particularly alluding to queer or female artists who are engaged with the legacy of Abstract Expressionism. (12) These include works like the paintings of Amy Sillman, or the cameraless photographs by Wolfgang Tillmans. However, with closer inspection of betweox, representational features begin to assert themselves and traces of bodies take form. This ability to move between both representation and abstraction, when created as a result of action, operates akin to the early photographic works by Étienne-Jules Marey. Marey’s works experiment with technology, time, light, and movement to create photographs that suspend multiple points in time, or versions of a gesture, within the same image frame. Varying degrees of the body remain entangled with the blur of time and movement, awaiting discovery by the viewer. Reckoning the body within betweox, much like with Marey’s images, prompts considerations on process, technology, time, light, and movement. Where my works diverge is in their socio-political power, through insistence on the queer body and its agency.

By creating works grounded in expressions of queer intimacy, betweox navigates the vulnerability of imaging marginalised identities. Visibility within art making (particularly for photography) is complex territory, where the queer body can easily become an object for consumption. Through the liquid, and unfixed form of the works in betweox, the protagonists (and myself, as a queer and non-binary person) exert their agency upon the viewer’s gaze. The works ask audiences to come closer – to trouble themselves with these images. They are works that encourage the intimacy they evoke. betweox, with its exploration of the betwixt, allows us to wander the intangible phenomenon that transpires between intimate gestures of queer people – to reveal how we are all entangled and interwoven with these intimacies.

(1) According to the language data provided by Oxford Languages, part of Oxford University Press ‘betweox’ is the etymological ancestor of the word ‘betwixt’. From Old English, the word is formed from “be” and “tweox” with the latter evolving from the Proto-Germanic ‘twiskaz’ meaning “twofold, double”.
(2) Vint, S. Entangled Posthumanism, in Science Fiction Studies, #105 vol. 35, part 2, July 2008: Karen Barad’s “Agential realism is a posthumanist performative ethics that uses the insights of quantum theory to reconceptualise our understandings of subjectivity, agency, causality, and—ultimately—the being of the universe itself.”
(3) Barad, K., in A. Kleinman, Intra-actions, Mousse Magazine, vol. 34, 2012: ‘Intra-action’, as opposed to ‘interaction’, articulates the relationships between agents acting upon one another inside a phenomenon – that agents are entangled and inseparable from one another. This unsettles ideas of individualism and queers causality.
(4) Barad, K., Transmaterialities, Trans*/Matter/Realities and Queer Political Imaginings, in GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies, GLQ 21:2-3, Duke University Press, 2015. p 406.
(5) ibid.
(6) Austin, JL., How to do things with words, The William James Lectures. Harvard University, 1955: Speech act theory involves utterances in language that say what they do, and can be considered as prompting action, rather than being passive statements.
(7) Hoegen, P., Versions of objects, or three older pieces, in P. Hoegen (ed.), Objectaffilia, in P. Hoegen (ed.), Another version: Thinking Through Performing. Onomatopee 159, 2020: Versioning is the comprehension and recognition of the varied entangled versions that exist of things. Hoegen uses the example of a museum object to explore how layering of versions (such as histories, interpretations, changes in appearance, etc.) on, through and into each other exisit together all at once.
(8) Anodising titanium is achieved by passing an electrical current through the metal while it is submersed in a chemical bath. Depending on the voltage used, you can achieve a variety of different colours. This process begins to draw into the works my interest with the electromagnetism of touch and lightning’s language of desire (fig. 1).
(9) Alphen, E.V. Failed Images: Photography and Its Counter-Practices, the vis-à-vis series, Astrid Vorstermans, Valiz, Amsterdam, 2018: Straight photography or pure photography is a practice that attempts to create images with focus and detail and is largely (mis)perceived as an infallible or accurate representation of reality.
(10) Barad, K., Transmaterialities, Trans*/Matter/Realities and Queer Political Imaginings, in GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies, GLQ 21:2-3, Duke University Press, 2015. pp 396-397.
(11) Barbush, A., Queer Formalism: The Return, Independent Book Review, April 2022: With Queer Formalism, queerness is used as a sort of oxymoron in relation to formalism’s detangling of artists from their work. Where formalism focuses on the formal qualities of works and forgoes contextual factors, Queer Formalism asks viewers to equally consider the queer identities on display.
(12) Sillman, A., Ab-Ex and Disco Balls: In Defense of Abstract Expressionism II. Artforum, 2011.