Benjamin Cuevas
Non-Binary Code, 2023
Acrylic (yarn) on canvas variable
“Non-Binary Code,” my exhibition about gender identity and coded meaning, featured several wall hangings and an interactive installation. Viewers were invited to wear gender neutralizing body suits and lounge in an array of pillows. These pillows were made using a knitting pattern I derived from translating the word “non-binary” into binary code, using knits for 1s and purls for 0s. The resulting textiles are a meditation on non-binary identity, and the installation is an invitation to a space where people can feel comfortable talking about gender while centering the idea of the non-binary. These pillows and wall pieces were made of acrylic yarn and placed on canvas—making these a works of acrylic on canvas, blurring distinctions between the binary of art and craft. Simultaneously a queering of hierarchies, and a meditation on gender, the work lets the viewer experience joy and repose, while lounging, mingling, or reflecting on the work.
Benjamin Cuevas
Masculine/Femininine, 2013
Knit wool, mannequins 6 ft x 2.5 ft x 2.5 ft
Masculine/Feminine is my personal model of gender. It reflects how I view gender as a patchwork of expressions that comprise the whole. These expressions envelop the polarity of masculinity and femininity (represented by the male and female mannequins). Mannequins are idealized forms, unrealistic, unobtainable, like absolute masculinity or absolute femininity. Adhering to the binary too strictly feels rigid and cold to me, like the mannequins here. The soft and cozy patchwork of expressions that comprise my non-binary gender identity, are built upon this binary and supersedes it. The piece was also inspired by the Aristophanes creation myth (made popular by the song The Origin of Love, in Hedwig and the Angry Inch). In that myth the gods created all humans as two people joined together at the backs. As the people got too powerful, the gods split them apart, and that's why we search for another half to love. It also speaks to the duality of gender with maleness and femaleness both combined within one body—which resonates with me and my personal understanding of my gender identity. Furthermore, there is an element of humor knitted into the piece. All of the patchwork squares reference phalluses or vulvas in their shapes and textures. It was a way of further infusing gender into the work, queering ideas around what genitals are assigned to what gender. The squares are also gray and pink, referencing masculine and feminine colors. But the colors are intentionally randomized to whether an individual square corresponds to a representation of a phallus or vulva—a further queering of expectations around gender.
Benjamin Cuevas
Transcending the Material (detail), 2010
Knit wool and silk 16 ft x 6 ft x 3 ft
