BODHI LIFE: a transgender digital artist memoir

Bodhi Life: A Transgender New Media Artist’s Memoir is an unfolding story of myself as a struggling video artist through bouts of depression and exploration and finding oneself through the eyes and experiences of a life that offered a variety of challenges and amazing gifts. I am willing to delve into the deeply personal to support empathy and the evolution of the culture in a safer, more open environment. My hope is that Bodhi Life will help others, both cis and transgender, to find more acceptance of themselves. Bodhi Life premiered as part of RedLine’s 48 Hours: An Exhibition on Socially Engaged Art in August 2016.

#HelloMyNameWas, a video from Bodhi Life, reclaims my entire life through morphing images of my face through over 40 years’ time. As a transgender person, I was taught that I should have shame about my history, I was taught I shouldn’t tell anyone my birth name, and I should appear as though I’ve had the same gender experience my entire life. Half of my life, I’ve been out as transgender and living in a way where I feel more comfortable in my own skin, but this expression does not negate the first half of my life. #HelloMyNameWas is about having ownership over my whole existence and being proud of my journey. #HelloMyNameWas recently showed as part of Currents New Media Festival in santa Fe, New Mexico.

#HelloMyName was will show at the Currents New Media Arts Festival June 11 – 26. Link here.

Bodhi Life: A Transgender New Media Artist’s Digital Memoir is an ongoing project that is about accepting ourselves as complete human beings no matter what. I have lived, and continue to live, a very interesting and unique life that is filled with taking calculated, and sometimes not so calculated, risks. Bodhi in Buddhism is about the true nature of things. Bodhi can also translate to mean “enlightenment”. It is my believe that living our lives to our fullest potential and completely accepting our truth of our journey is the path to happiness. It is my hope Bodhi Life will help others, both cis and Transgender people, to find more acceptance of themselves.

Bodhi Life launched  in August 2015 at Denver’s RedLine Gallery’s 48 Hours: An Exhibition of Socially Engaged Art was a great success and I hope to continue to grow the project to gain more reach. My social media reach was 30,000 people. Big thanks to the Santa Fe Reporter who did an article on the piece. Their readership is 60,000 individuals a week/publication. Almost 300 people watched the live YouTube stream.