Trans*substantiation
Trans*substantiation is a multi-media installation, mythologizing patterns of transformation within queer identity, nature, and spirituality. The installation consists of an identical animation, sculpture, and augmented reality scene, depicting a pair of illuminated abstract bodies, surrounded by environmental elements.
The bodies in the scene were developed from Mather’s 3D scanning self-portrait diary, and represent two moments within their experience with gender affirming medical care. One scan was collected before they began hormone replacement therapy, the other scan was collected after a year on testosterone. The artwork juxtaposes the Catholic concept of “transubstantiation” – a blessing transmuting a material from secular to divine, and the queer syntax “trans*” – persons whose gender identity falls on a spectrum outside of cisgender identity.
In the scene, the bodies face each other in complimentary kneeling poses. Stylized water flows from the one body towards plants that surround the other body. The bodies are illuminated by three light points, falling along the spine. In the animation, the light points travel between the bodies, passing in-between their outstretched hands. The sculpture is ~13” x 8” x 6”, and rests on a suspended platform in front of a screen playing the animation on a loop. A custom geometric sigil beneath the screen triggers the AR scene, which appears in front of the sculpture and the screen.
The multiple display formats are a mediation on the translation of medium – digital animation, to hybrid augmented reality, to physical sculpture – reiterating the process of transmutation of form implied in the title. This artwork part of an ongoing collection of artworks Mather has produced using emergent technologies related to 3D scanning to critically engage with spiritual narratives from a gender queer perspective.
