Content warning: partial nudity.

About the artwork

‘Le petit mort’ is a scanned and edited drawing of two intimate figures. The figures in this set have no distinct gender, and in my referring to an old photograph, this was my intention – no one distinct body represents one distinct gender. I drew this as purposely queer, erotic and soft. The two figures embrace each other with care and lust – emphasis on the care they have for one other. These queer lovers are at ease. They are attentive to each other, in specific ways that queer love can provide. 

About the artist

CJ Starc is a queer trans non-binary artist whose textile and digital artworks focus on organic shapes and textures. They seek to de-gender embroidery, whilst honouring its perception as feminine work. They use mostly second-hand materials to depict nature and abstracted depictions of the body. Their work has been exhibited at Brunswick Street Gallery, the Queen Victoria Women’s Centre, forty-five downstairs gallery, as well as published in journals such as Baby Teeth and Antithesis. They aim to challenge our perceptions of bodies, in a cis-heteronormative patriarchal world. They study, live, and create on Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country.