2023 held within it many ‘firsts’ for me as an artist – most notably it was my first year post-graduation to function as a full time artist making my way in the world. There were ups and downs but more ups last year than anything!
Most notably, I was lucky enough to receive top surgery in August, successfully executed by Dr. Peter Raphael of Plano’s American Institute of Plastic Surgery. I now have a second lease on life and can finally breathe and be done with my gender transition. Now I get to be a trans masculine queer motion designer and illustrator full time. I get to present totally as myself. And that’s a luxury I am privileged to be afforded. It’s something I want everyone to get the chance to have.
To be yourself is truly life changing. So that’s what I’ve been working towards fighting for with my art: to carve a place in this world for trans queer furry weirdos like myself. Let’s dive in to the highlights of what work I am grateful to have done in 2023!
Starting out, I expressed myself in a self-portrait in January of 2023. I have a deep connection to nature and greenery, so I felt a dryad-like self-portrait was appropriate for a fresh new start to 2023.
In January of 2023 I was fortunate enough to get to see Shin Ultraman in theaters which was directed by Shinji Higuchi with production and co-editing by his friend Hideaki Anno (of ‘Neon Genesis Evangelion’ and ‘Shin Godzilla’ fame.) The film is part of an ongoing series of NEW approaches to classic Japanese tokusatsu characters. The current “Shin” films (meaning “new”) include Shin Godzilla, Shin Ultraman, and Shin Kamen Rider (also saw – worth it!! So awesome!) Hideaki Anno is leading the charge with these projects, helping his close friends directing them. It’s an awesome feat to be bringing old and amazingly classic characters into a fresh new light for a whole new generation to enjoy.
Hourly Comics Day 2023
This was a great event I try to take part in yearly. You can either write a story where you release every page or part every hour of the 24 hours of comics on February 1st, or you do hourlies where you make comics documenting your activities over the course of 24 hours. I usually do the latter. From 10pm – 11pm CT I took part in an Imbolc ritual for my first time with The Cauldron of the Growing Vine online in their virtual ritual space. It was an amazing moment to behold and I was grateful for the eclectic pagan community to be a part of. I can’t always make it to my local pagan events so the Cauldron has been a great dependable community to be able to make it to on the seasonal holidays.
Monster Girl March Art Challenge & Zine Outcome
This challenge was superb and a highlight of my March 2023. I was able to illustrate monster girls for different prompts each day of March. Two things I dearly LOVE a lot! Monsters and girls! <3
After finishing them all, I compiled them into an awesome zine!
You can snag the Physical Copy of Monster Girl March OR the Digital Copy of Monster Girl March on my zine page.
The ‘We Won’t Go Back Sticker’ in Response to 2023’s Anti-Trans Legislation
This sticker was provoked and created as a way to channel my anger after hearing news of yet more anti-trans laws being passed – making our country more oppressive to transgender youth and adults alike, one state after another. It is abhorrent that we live in a world where transgender people are targeted in genocidal ways in all forms of life due to the anti-trans legislation that blossomed in 2023 tenfold. I’m tired of it. You can find information about what passed and what didn’t from 2023 at the Trans Legislation Tracker website. Keep a tab on that site to stay informed on what you can fight back against.
The original sketch below holds the furious energy I had in the moment of getting the concept out of my head. It depicts a group of trans queers bursting forth from inside a closet that was closed up with locks and chains, now broken.
The events in April as anti-trans bills ramped up throughout 2023 (they started right away in January but many came to pass come April) also inspired the creation of an introductory article to being a transgender ally in 2023, organized by energy level required.
Read about it and find one thing YOU can do to help the trans community on the list!
The Denton Makers Fest
In the latter part of April I also happened to run into the Denton Maker’s Fest just by random chance. I was documenting the Willie Nelson art by Steve Brooks exhibit nearby at the UNT CoLab when upon leaving I discovered the Makers’ Fest. Exploring it provided a look into all kinds of cool local Denton creatives.
My favourite artist at the event was Scout Ryman, so I’m giving them a special shout out!
As per my article about the event:
“You can support their work at scoutryman.square.site and snag some zines, prints, and more today!!”
Read more about the Denton Maker’s Fest in the full article.
My Transition [Ongoing] Painting Series – May 2023 (For A Juried Art Show)
This series is a really meaningful one to me that I created for a juried art show that put a call out for Texas artists to show the many different kinds of Texans there were in our state. I didn’t place whatsoever, but it was a gratifying experience to create something covering elements of my own gender transition! I have more ideas I would like to expand on and add to this collection in 2024, but these 6 are what stands for the original series from May 2023.
Hoping I can get a show going for these someday, I’d like to put together a whole public art show over the concept of transition in general. Maybe someday
Pride Month in Lil’ D – Night OUT on the Square – My First Big Vendor Event!
I had an AMAZING time at Pridenton’s Night OUT on the Square on June 9th. Honestly a game changer for how I approached vending, and inspired me to keep going to events! My art was really well received and I was able to make some cool connections to local fellow queers. Thank you to Pridenton for the awesome event! I look forward to 2024’s!
The T4T Tattoo for Pride Month
MacFarland (they/them) at Ace’s Tattoos was offering a flash sheet of pride tattoos during the month of June 2023! It was a blast and part of the Pridenton events for the year. I was fortunate enough to find one to fall in love with and slightly customize a bit: A T4T tattoo!
The location I decided was of course my left hand’s knuckles. I’m saving my right hand and arm for art related tattoos, but my left side is open for anything. We even were able to get a little heart added to make it complete for the four fingers. MacFarland did an AMAZING job and you should go get tattoos from them too!
And to answer “What’s T4T mean?” – “T4T” means Trans For Trans relationships.
Sometimes, trans people prioritize relationships romantically and/or sexually with other trans partners. There is level of comfort that is achieved by dating each other, and a level of understanding that is hard to come by but not impossible to see in cis / trans relationships. For me there is less work involved, and less educating. I can take a break from all of that because I am just already understood by my trans partners. T4T is a lifestyle choice as much as it is a promise to each other that we will brave the anti-trans storm out together and see a brighter future with liberation and bodily autonomy for us all.
Learn more about T4T love with TransLash’s amazing Guide to T4T Love!
The Greater Denton Arts Council Funds the First 100 Books Upcoming of The Fox Who Became A Girl – Micro-Grant Winner of 2023!
I was more than fortunate to be one of the artists chosen to receive a $500 micro-grant from The Greater Denton Arts Council! This will be going directly towards the first 100 books printed of ‘The Fox Who Became A Girl’ my friend Chloe and I’s upcoming 36 page fairy tale comic book! Thank you to The Greater Denton Arts Council for believing in Chloe and I’s project!
‘The Fox Who Became A Girl’ is underway still, and will be finished and printed in June of this year (2024)! If the project ends up needing more time, there will be an official announcement by May 2024. Either way it’ll be this year. This is my first time publishing something myself with the help of my friend who wrote the story, so it will be fun!
‘The Fox Who Became A Girl’ is a unique fairy tale written and adapted into a comic script by my dear friend Chloe. I am completing the story by turning her script into a fully illustrated comic using Gansai Tambi watercolours and Micron inks. The story is very near and dear to my heart, and I can’t wait to finish bringing this trans and queer fairy tale to life!
Here’s the first page as a teaser!
Read 2 more pages for free on it’s homepage on my site!
Subscribe to my Patreon for as little as $2 a month to gain access to seeing all the process of the comic as we finish it up this Spring!
Catch public teasers for the development of the comic on my Instagram!
The square-d Community Art Exhibit benefiting The UNT Food Pantry @ UNT CoLAB
Across June I worked on a painting to contribute to the square-d Community Art Exhibit. The show benefited the UNT Food Pantry through every painting sold at the price of $25 minimum.
My piece was titled ‘Queer Solidarity on the Square’, featuring faces inspired by real life people I’ve known in the queer community of Denton, TX. The two large heads are me and my friend I newly met in 2023, @nooroodle ! – go check out their awesome art and pick up something cool from their art shop!
The rest are people I met throughout Denton who are also queer, across 2022-2023. I am so grateful to be among a lot of amazing people locally! It makes me feel safe and able to be myself as a queer nonbinary trans man.
I was fortunate to receive an offer on the painting for $400, split between me and $200 towards the Food Pantry. It was exciting! Thank you to Nova Martin a wonderful [previously] local friend (who moved up to WA now!) for giving this meaningful piece a home! She is among the featured trans and queer folk that inspired the piece, with her firey pink hair and “STOP HATRED” transgender flag.
The bottom slogan was a chant from the Trans Day of Visibility March earlier this year on March 31st 2023. There was a public rally outside City Hall, speeches, and a march from City Hall to The Bearded Monk where a communal event took place that we wrote letters to trans youth at. I hope we do the same this year in 2024 too.
Check out the chant below:
“Not the church, not the state, only we decide our fate”
This chant is crucial to our community’s current and long-standing issues with how our Texas legislators are convinced we shouldn’t exist and should have 0 control of what we do with our bodies. 2023 was yet another stressful year where we fought many anti-trans and anti-drag bills in not only Texas but across a large amount of states too.
A Shift Into More Political Art – July 2023
After continually facing hardships brought upon by the feverish aggression of the right wing, 2023 and my connections to the trans and queer community empowered me to start creating more political art this year. This piece originally started out as something more unsavory, but I re-approached it in July. The new look featured a message filled with love and hope, which are my guiding lights in a world as cruel to queer and trans people as it is.
Each of the symbols are tied to various far-right and Nazi groups in North America and some from beyond. These symbols are those of hate, those of evil, and red snakes like these must be vanquished. There is no “debating” with the right, their bigotry and horrible statements must be stopped at the door. At the source. We must keep our communities safe and free of Nazis and their right wing ilk. Before it is too late.
These are now printed with holographic effects on the glossy print for your home or place of business, so you can send the right message to the chuds. 11″ x 17″ available in my shop.
However, if you want to print these on cheaper paper or in B+W I can provide the file to you directly if you just email me on an individual basis.
The Texas Petal Project’s “The Way Trees Hold Each Other” Zine
I was grateful for the opportunity to contribute to a community zine (the second one!) with the Texas Petal Project.
This zine was titled ‘The Ways Trees Hold Each Other’ and was an open theme to interpret however we wanted.
It included poems, artwork, written word, stories, and even music shared by artists from all over the world.
I went with a focus on a particular natural phenomenon in which trunks, branches or roots of two trees grow together in a manner biologically similar to the artificial process of grafting. This is called inosculation.
To be inosculated is to grow together, support each other, and to work collectively towards a goal. A tree’s goal is to grow near the light, naturally, and I think we can learn a lot from what nature does that can be applied to our work wherever we are.
The word ‘inosculated’ also has a root in the Latin language. The words in + ōsculārī or “to kiss into/inwards/against.”
You can request to purchase one at the contact page of the Texas Petal Project.
THE BIG DAY – AUGUST 23RD – MY TOP SURGERY HAPPENED!
Nothing was more special to me in 2023 than my TOP SURGERY. The surgery was performed perfectly so by Dr. Peter Raphael of The American Institute of Plastic Surgery out here in North Texas. I highly recommend them to ANY trans and/or nonbinary person who seeks a masculine or simply flat chest. He can work with any gender expression and asks you many questions, and wants you to have what YOU want. His genius technical ability enabled me to have a newly masculine chest.
(My final drawings the night before top surgery)
(The BIG DAY 5 minutes before getting the anesthesia :3 )
To think I would be accessing such a hard to get surgery. It took time and some failure to get to this point, but thanks to the generosity of a very close friend, I was finally able to afford this surgery that changed my life. I wouldn’t be here without my local and internet community’s support too! I had the funds and supplies I needed to survive the months I would be off work successfully raised through streaming, commissions, $10 for 10 minute sketches, social media, and my Throne Wishlist. Thank you to everyone who helped contribute to making this surgery and experience a success! <3
Let’s check out the hard work and big reveal!
(Day of Reveal – 1 Week Post Surgery – We kept these nipple parts on for another 2 weeks while the graft took to my body)
Overall I was incredibly impressed by the amount of support I felt from everyone around me. Thank you all so much for standing by me as I finally stepped into my real life and who I truly was always meant to be and look like.
(1 Month After Surgery) (Wearing scar tape at this point but this is a view without it)
(1/18/24 – Almost 5 Months Post Surgery!! Feeling great and using Bio-oil on it now, no tape anymore! He/they pronouns only please! Thanks!)
I feel so happy and free now, and capable of being a confident adult capable of walking around on this Earth now without wanting to explode into a million pieces daily. No more micromanaging hiding my ex-breasts, no more feeling ashamed or over-sexualized by society around me. I am finally free. I am happy.
This experience alone with gender-affirming care has reignited my passion and desire to continue to fight for the right to be able to do this for all trans people in all 50 states and the world. Trans people deserve full bodily autonomy, and access to care without financial barriers. In Texas and many other “red states,” us trans people are experiencing more and more restrictions and bills outright banning our needed healthcare and medicine access by criminalizing healthcare professionals who aid us in our gender transitions.
You can find more out about how to join us in fighting back in my April 2023 article titled ‘You Are Needed: How To Be A Trans Ally in 2023’ which still applies in today’s world into 2024.
Most of the next month of September thereafter was spent on recovery. I took some time to do some sketching, so here’s a glimpse at what I was drawing that month.
Halloween & My Comeback to Art
Around the middle of October I started feeling quite well post-surgery in my recovery. I experienced a strong recovery and was thankful for that. To celebrate, I offered Halloween YCH (Your Character Here) commissions on my socials and did a good four pieces for the season seen below!
I also got back into vending and attended two different markets in Denton with the Denton Arts and Performance Collab. Since it was an awesome costumed event for Halloween I dressed up as a nature dragon complete with a nature whelpling perched upon my shoulder! I hand-painted everything and customized it from the black and red these items originally were.
Joining Other Artists Against Apartheid & Standing Up for a Free Palestine (The End of 2023)
After the gruesome events of October 7th, 2023, I started becoming much more active in the fight for Palestinian liberation as their country began to experience a full-scale genocide in Gaza thereafter. The occupation and oppression enacted by Isreal and faced by Palestinians goes back a lot further than the current situation though. It goes back 75 years.
I quickly joined up with the Artists Against Apartheid, signing on to their public letter (which you can sign too if you’re an artist!)
In addition, I also signed alongside other Queer Artists for Palestine on their public letter – which, like the Artists Against Apartheid letter – demands a permanent ceasefire, an end to the occupation, and the end to the genocide of Palestinian people.
Following Micah Bazant’s call for art, I submitted two poster designs to help educate people and be valuable as things to put up in communities. The QR codes lead to the Stop Gaza Genocide action toolkit. The second QR code directs to the All the Walls Will Fall: Palestine Liberation Resource List. Both are important resources and can guide you in your learning about Palestinians’ struggle and unlearning of the Zionist propaganda that the USA emboldens.
You can access all my Palestine posters for free here.
You can access hundreds of Palestine posters for free via Micah Bazant’s call for art.
Currently, it has been over *150 days of endless siege and death* across all of Palestine, especially in Gaza and they are threatening to march on Rafah too, the last place left for Palestinians to flee. Forced starvation. Forced lack of medical assistance. Bombed hospitals. Every single hospital is gone. Every single university is gone. When will it end?
I implore you to take action today. How can anyone sit idly standing by watching this genocide unfold? Please, take the time to commit to doing something.
Please refer to the Stop Gaza Genocide Action Toolkit & the Ceasefire Today website and continue speaking out as a voice for Palestine’s freedom in your locality, push for your city to support Palestine and the call for a ceasefire. Do not stop demanding a permanent enforced ceasefire every single day.
Keep fighting for a better tomorrow.
May 2024 be the year where those who commit genocide are held accountable and those who suffer are freed. May we be able to successfully pressure those in charge to save what is left of Palestine, before it is too late.
As my last statement on this travesty and significant part of 2023, I want to leave you with Dr. Refaat Alareer’s final poem he wrote before he was murdered by an Isreali air strike. May we fight for a free Palestine together in his honor.
“IF I MUST DIE”
BY REFAAT ALAREER
If I must die,
you must live
to tell my story
to sell my things
to buy a piece of cloth
and some strings,
(make it white with a long tail)
so that a child, somewhere in Gaza
while looking heaven in the eye
awaiting his dad who left in a blaze—
and bid no one farewell
not even to his flesh
not even to himself—
sees the kite, my kite you made, flying up above
and thinks for a moment an angel is there
bringing back love
If I must die
let it bring hope
let it be a tale
فال بد أن تعيش أنت
رفعت العرعير
إذا كان لا بد أن أموت
فال بد أن تعيش أنت
لتروي حكايتي
لتبيع أشيائي
وتشتري قطعة قماش
وخيوطا
(فلتكن بيضاء وبذيل طويل)
كي يبصر طفل في مكان ما من ّغّزة
وهو يح ّّدق في السماء
منتظرًاً أباه الذي رحل فجأة
دون أن يودع أحدًاً
وال حتى لحمه
أو ذاته
يبصر الطائرة الورقّية
طائرتي الورقية التي صنعَتها أنت
تحّلق في الأعالي
ويظ ّّن للحظة أن هناك مالكًاً
يعيد الحب
إذا كان لا بد أن أموت
فليأ ِِت موتي باألمل
فليصبح حكاية
ترجمة سنان أنطون
Translation by Sinan Antoon
You can purchase a glossy 8.5″ x 11″ poster I illustrated of Dr. Refaat Alareer on my site and 100% of the profits will be donated to one of the current people in need as sourced & updated on Funds For Gaza’s Linktree !
If you decide to donate MORE than $20 (the price of the print) to one of the Funds for Gaza, send me your receipt/screenshot of payment made and I’ll send you a care kit with Palestine posters, wheatpasting tips, little helpful zines & helpful stickers to spread throughout your locality.
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Thank you for reading my year round-up. I appreciate you if you made it this far!
You can continue to find my work at ovaettr.gay, and I invite you to join my newsletter on the front page for my art news and action tips once a month.
