Here Queer Art Today — Anastacia MacDonald

Here Queer Art Today:
The Queer Body

Art show
Illustration

Submitted work to ‘The Queer Body’, a show which took place in Whitespace Galleries, Edinburgh, 8th-10th November 2024.

‘Descendant of Sappho’ (2024)

This is a lino-cut printed self-portrait. It is a reflection of my relationship with my body & gender as a Lesbian. Queerness is rooted in my biology. Before I knew I was a
Lesbian, I was a little girl who felt “different”. I think that being a Lesbian has always left a personal feeling of ambiguity around my gender. I insisted on being the prince whenever I played Cinderella with friends. I didn’t think that an attraction to women was an “option” unless you were a man. I wanted [to fit in] to be hyper-feminine as a teenager, it never made me happy. Being able to separate myself from the validity of men as a Lesbian is so freeing, I have re-defined femininity for myself, I don’t make myself do anything because it’s “what women have to do”. I am a woman, but on my own terms. Weight-training has helped me gain a sense of euphoria in my body. My body is a vessel of protection, self-expression, it is capable of so much and it continues to change.

‘Cupid and Psyche’ (2022)

This painting is a redraw of Francois Gerard's "Psyche Receiving the First Kiss of
Cupid", which I made for a project during the third year of my Communication Design
degree. The brief was to reinterpret and create a modern version of an iconic
painting subject. I initially thought the two characters were women in the original
painting, so I was inspired to re-imagine it that way. The Lesbian identity has often
been portrayed in a voyeuristic light throughout media & pop culture, heavily
sexualized or appealing to a heteronormative audience. My aim of this was to
represent a personal and domestic sense of intimacy between two women, to
illustrate a Queer narrative of romance authentically. I had received a little criticism
for Cupid not being easily identifiable as a woman. Portraying Cupid as androgynous
was very important to me as someone with a Butch partner. I very rarely see
Butches or masculine women represented in Lesbian media.