“Bound” is a deeply personal series and collaboration between Aqua and Grace. It blurs the distinction between masculine & feminine and instead places emphasis on the fact that these traits can coexist. Aqua helped Grace to explore her own gender fluid and trans experience, as well as her relationship with chest binding and body modification through this portraiture. The plastic wrap nods to the binding and molding of the self within a moment in time, while simultaneously acting as a dress. We pulled inspiration from historical drag and genderfluid artists like Claude Calhoun. They aptly describe the constant shifting of gender by saying “Under this mask, another mask. I will never be finished removing all these faces.” We celebrate the many ways of being and the idea that identity is not a fixed state but rather in constant flux.
