Me… when I grow up.
BENNY KLEINMAN-EDDY
“Boundary,” 2014-2023
“For Life,” 2003-2023
“Invitation,” 2023
Materials: shelf, tray, box, art journals, multimedia small sculptures, cyanotype, etching on cotton
This series is dedicated to trans boys with tender hearts, and to the song “Maker” by Anjimile.
“Me… when I grow up.” is a playful experiment in memory, identity and vulnerability. I’ve been a maker my whole life, and (thanks to an inherited tendency to keep such things) I have a small archive of my creations from age 3 up until present day. By revisiting my work from different stages of my life I’m able to illustrate a conversation between myself and the version of myself represented in my archive. These three works bend time such that they were made years ago, and I only just finished them— but there’s a chance the person I’ve yet to be will decide to change them again. This series celebrates the joyful metamorphosis from who I was to who I am, and who I will become.
“Boundary” creates a dialogue in which I establish intimacy with the viewer by asserting myself gently but firmly. “For Life” translates the visual language of my childhood drawings into small creatures made of sculpey, shrinky dinks, and soft sculpture. “Invitation (open me carefully)” is a love letter to boys like me. It’s a reminder that your body is home; you should be able to decorate and renovate to your heart's content. It’s a message to you that I see you, and you can find yourself too if you open the door you’ve kept locked for too long. It’s an invitation— open this box and celebrate the infinite joy of radical self-transformation. This body of work is an exercise in vulnerability, humility, and trust. I engage the viewer in a series of playful encounters in which I negotiate the intimacy of presenting my belongings, my creations, and my self-portrait.
“Open Me Carefully” is a phrase that Emily Dickinson used to address her letters to her lover, Susan. I’m also inspired by other artists who negotiate the contrast between trauma and humor, such as Louise Bourgeois, Laurie Anderson, Ambika Trasi, and Marcel Dzama.
a note on unicorns:
“Invitation (Open Me Carefully)” appropriates imagery from a series of medieval tapestries known as “The Hunt of the Unicorn”. The tapestries illustrate a common trope in which a young maiden lulls the unicorn into a false sense of security, allowing hunters to capture and kill him. The final piece in this series shows the unicorn, resurrected, laying chained to a tree and confined by a short fence, supposedly tamed by his love for the maiden. My print references this final image and uses other mythological symbolism to subvert the original story. Instead of being chained and confined, the unicorn is protected by the magical barrier of a fairy ring, and sheltered by a weeping willow tree. Rather than tricking the unicorn, the trans boy in my print has been invited to enter the sacred space of the fairy ring and the two rest together in the courageous peace of the hunted.
