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Gallery Exhibitions  Narratives / Blogs |
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Emmett Ramstad | Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis-based artist Emmett Ramstad envisions the transgender community as a landscape woven together by the surgical scars of a reconstructed body. The scars left behind after the body has been altered map new gender geographies as they connect bodies together that defy the rigid binary system. The scars become the physical evidence of an attempt to “undo” gender within a community that is in the process of constructing itself. Ramstad’s art works sensitively reference surgical altercations by becoming bodily. From abstracted imagery of scars or surgical apparatuses, Ramstad adds layers of visual texture from gauze and bandages, then finally physically stitches the works with cotton thread to represent the reconstruction process. In James’ Nipple (2005), what appears as a surgical scar is surrounded by cotton stitching that reminds the viewer of the body’s vulnerability in the process of reconstruction. The scar does not fade away, but appears more like a wound that echoes the physical and psychological hurt of a community that is trying to heal from a gender-bias. Ramstad’s imagery quietly suggests self-infliction, or wounds derived from worries about gender choice that stem from social pressure rather than a medical condition. Can gender issues be “fixed” surgically, or make the body “fit” better? The stitching in Ramstad’s work is also reminiscent of the tradition of garment makers who, prior to the ubiquity of readymade clothing, sewed and fitted pieces of fabric together to create a customized fit. The clothing was made for an individual’s body, conforming perfectly to its shape. In today’s world, Ramstad sees the transgender community as surgically tailoring to fit the wearer’s self-image and desired identity. In surgery, the body is as malleable as fabric and thus allows for the creation of a personal identity that does not always behave according to binary systems. By employing stitching, Ramstad also connects to the resurgence of craft materials in art. Craft activities, such as sewing, become cultural symbols that connect the art to a human history. Historically, craft activity has drawn a community together in the process of making as well as creating an aesthetic tradition that forms an identity associated with a place or group of people, such as women’s quilting circles. Untitled (Gauzedrain), (2005), an image saturated by a red pigment, impressions of drainage tubes and bandages, represents the remnants or scraps left from surgical procedure that Ramstad has pieced together, rearranged and rejuvenated to form an aesthetic tradition for the transgender community in the process of constructing itself. Resonating on many levels, Ramstad poignantly draws attention to physical and psychological trauma involved in defying cultural conceptions while quietly honoring the formation of a new community of reconstructed bodies. - by Kristen Raizada
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