Theis Work
An asexual according to AVEN (the Asexual Visibility and Education Network) is a person who does not experience sexual attraction. This project was inspired by the idea of the ‘unassailable asexual’, which has been a gatekeeping tactic that has been used by members inside and outside the asexual community since the community was first brought together in 2000. The idea of the ‘unassailable asexual’ is the perfect asexual that does not have any issues that people could attribute the asexuality to. Therefore, said person could be considered ‘valid’. The token asexual has not had any mental illnesses because obviously your sex drive must have been diminished because of it. They are also sex positive but have never had sex because if you don’t like sex your asexuality is from the fact you don’t like sex, and if you’ve had sex obviously you must not be asexual because an asexual being doesn’t have sex. They also have not been abused because then their asexuality comes from their trauma which invalidates their sexuality. The list goes on and on, leaving many aces questioning their orientation and feeling as if they are broken people. Even in general asexuality is not widely accepted in society, which also causes many problems.
As part of the asexual community myself I am very passionate about these issues, and they are certainly ones that need to be addressed. My way to respond to it is to paint portraits of people in the asexual community. All of the people present are on the ace spectrum, and by spectrum I mean they associate with one of the subsets of asexuality—grey: they experience some attraction but not most of the time, demi: they only experience sexual attraction when they make a strong emotional connection, ace: they experience absolutely no sexual attraction, etc. (Just for those who don’t know the community extensively because I’m not too sure how much you may know about the subject) Also all of the portraits are selfies that the participants of this project have sent to me. I felt like it was very important that they send something to me that they were comfortable with so that I get a range of personalities and so that they gave me something that made them feel at their best—which asserts their validity.