Keegan Stewart

Gentle and Strong combines textile and photography to challenge expectations of transition and readable trans bodies. It features a sculptural self-portrait, in which the artist has crocheted a photographic image of their first bloodied bandage post-testosterone injection. Crochet serves as a handmade process of physical pixelation. The final piece is an intentional abstraction and self-reclamation of Stewart’s butch identity that resists easy legibility. Titled after a phrase spoken by their dad while making the wooden frame, Gentle and Strong examines the role both gender and physical display play in the division of “craft” and “fine art.” The accompanying book serves as a diaristic extension of their self-portraiture, including writing and photographs taken during transition.

Keegan Stewart is a Queens-based writer, photographer, and textile artist. Their work explores themes of butchness, queer nightlife, the archive, and legibility.