Loving the Only Way We Know How
Mc Govern's work is concerned with queer experiences and identity formation. She explores themes of sexuality, queer kinship and the fetishisation of queer people. Her practice manifests in lens-based media, sculpture and audio. She aims to highlight nonsexual, loving queer experiences. By using personal experiences to inform her work, this practice has become a tool of self-navigation. By utilising video and sculpture along with language and hand gestures to artistically articulate emotion, Mc Govern explores the contrast of vulnerability and sensations felt within a queer kinship, and an outsider's perspective of queer sexual relationships.
This interest has led to represent queer kinships articulated through body language, manifesting itself as a digital video entitled '25:19', that is accompanied by specific text. Ulrika Dahl’s text, 'Not Gay as in Happy, but Queer as in Fuck You' has become an integral text for '25:19'. This text speaks to kinship within queer relationships as well as societal perceptions of the love that is shared in queer relationship. The text counteracts and disrupts the softness and gentleness of the hand movements in the video.
The latex sculptures entitled 'Idol Bodies', take on the form of a queer female presenting body, using body parts such as the breasts, a vagina and a mouth. Chosen for their common association with sexual innuendo. The sculptures use different shades of latex, that create a fluid marble effect that speaks to the fluidity of sexuality. The grotesque skins and bulbous shapes are a response to the sexual fetishisation of queer bodies. The latex sculptures are somewhat undressed, and the viewer is asked to consider the sculpture as a sexual entity. Ideas of restriction and pain caused by such acts, with labels of bondage and kink are manifested in the use of rope. The work seeks to act as a rebellion to the narrative surrounding the fetishization of queer bodies.
List of Materials:
Latex
Plaster
Twine
Steel
Audio
Video projection