Queering the Fens: an exploration of land, supernatural, folklore and queer reproduction as art making

Abstract

This essay refers to a body of work and research that considers the connections and intersections of the supernatural and Queerness. The project began with an exploration of ghost stories and their connection to repressed sexuality and identity, mediumship and its relationship to transgression of gender. This revealed notions of supernatural Queer male birth and how making art can embody this. A specific personal geographic location: the Lincolnshire Fens became important in its: liminality, landscape, wealth of folklore and connection to Queerness, politics, and the queer body’s relationship to the land. Working  in a transdisciplinary manner I have produced charged and evocative time based media, using methods of creation related to mediumship and the  supernatural. Particularly: performance, sculpture and drawing, woven into video installations. I have proposed speculative queer futures that challenge  hegemony, examine queer identity and celebrate the downright weird.