Untitled

This piece represents how fluid, expansive, and beautiful agenderism, aromanticism, and asexuality is. The collages tell a story in two parts: the left being a visualization of my aceness, aroness, and gender identities in sophomore year of college, and the right those very same identities by senior year. The difference in these two collages showed me hope and served to be a visual form of ace affirmations. To me, they show that, with time, you learn more about yourself; you hear more voices and stories of others like you; you become more eager to take up space; you become prideful in our boundaries and desires (or lack thereof). Although words from ace, aro, and agender people can redirect and reinvigorate how one see’s themself, any oyster of image has the potential to connect to your experiences. Through the use of images, quotes, and objects non-explicitly ace, the collages show how I have changed. No longer do I feel as though I don’t fit into the spaces and system around me, leaving gaps in my asexual embodiment and gender expression. I have learned that it is them that should feel blessed and honored to be connected to me, to my sex repulsed aceness and unlabeled aromanticism, and agenderism. Instead of fearing what my acness means for my future, I embrace its complexities and expansiveness. Don’t only love your aro/ace/agender-ness, but the unknown capabilities of what they will become.