Unfamiliar Area | Nuka Horvat: “Trans Threatened”

04 November 2021 > 04 December 2021 Kindly invited to the mini online exhibition "Unfamiliar Area" by Nuka Horvat: "Trans Threatened", curated by Nina Baznik.

The work Trans Threatened is one of four monotypes of the artist, Nuka Horvat. Monotypes focus on the representation of emotions and moments, rather than on the portrayal of simply understood figures. The images purposely move close enough to the figural art so that we try to understand them by means of our own associations that are built on the basis of our personal experiences, but we can never completely grasp them. Trans Threatened aims to show a misunderstanding of transgenderality and political view that transgenderality and trans people threaten tradition, family, children and the future of humanity. The monotype is almost completely covered with fabric. In the whole project, fabric plays the role of a disturbance, symbolic overlapping of the truth. On the monotype Trans Threatened, the fabric covers the key data. Instead of the truth that the right to exist, to live a life without hiding and discrimination, does not endanger anyone, false beliefs and fear dominate.

Nuka Horvat's work Trans Threatened tackles the invisible, systemic violence against transgender people and the threat trans people experience in their lives. Many people claim that transgender people threaten their existence, way of life and family. The truth, however, is the opposite, as it is trans persons who are endangered, because  their human rights are denied and violated.

Transgenderality is not dangerous, but the violence perpetrated against transgender people is. Why do you think this kind of violence occurs? How can one go from not understanding the gender of an individual to physical and verbal violence so quickly?

In my works I do not want to indicate only physical and verbal violence, but to an even greater extent the denial of rights, abuse of power, violation of human rights, systemic discrimination, (covert) hate and discriminatory speech, etc. These forms of violence are systemic. The very principles on which society is build and we all learned are detrimental to the existence of trans people, which is the reason why the incidence of physical and verbal violence is so high.

People often experience misunderstood topics with fear and horror. Unfamiliar themes, groups and individuals are experienced as a threat. Has the increased presence of public discussion on transgenderality helped to understand it?

Greater visibility in society definitely helps to understand transgenderality, but at the same time it can be a double-edged sword, due to the political 'pushback' — with the visibility, statistically speaking, also hate speech, hateful actions, the emergence of anti-trans laws etc, increased. Greater visibility therefore exposes marginalised groups to violence, even though dissemination of knowledge on trans topics is necessary for the erasure of prejudices and normalization. The key is to listen to trans people themselves.

 

Nuka Horvat (1997) are attending postgraduate studies in illustration at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana. They create zines, comics, illustrations and animations, and in these areas explore what it is that turns meaningless forms into recognisable images and vice versa. Their comics and illustrations were published by Kuš komiks and the FŮD newspaper. They have participated in several group exhibitions, such as Fresh Fish #nemirnevode (2020) in the gallery Dobra Vaga, S04E02_CRIZOLOGY: Applied Approach (2021) within Gallery 7: 069 and Media Nox, and in a solo exhibition in Dobra Vaga, as part of the Zina Vitrina exhibition with their own zin-comic Funnel (2020). 



 

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Other Unfamiliar Area exhibitions

Nina Baznik: Unfamiliar Area 

and others on the downside of the page

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Proof-reading (Slovene language): Neja Berlič
Translation (to English language): Ana Makuc
Financial support: Ministry for Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, City Council Ljubljana - Department for Culture