Non-Binary Code

Production is currently underway for this Los Angeles-based solo show at Studio 203. “Non-Binary Code” is an exploration of gender identity, textile-based practices, and coded meaning. The exhibition will consist of several large-scale knitted wall hangings and an interactive installation. To make this work, playing with the binary nature of the knit/purl stitchwork inherent to knitting, the word “nonbinary” was translated into binary code. This label of gender identity was then knit into textile wall hangings and an interactive lounge area, both imbuing and obscuring the meaning of the word “non-binary”, much in the way binaries of gender and the desire to transcend these binaries are coded into the concept of non-binary identity. The textile lounge installation invites viewers to come to rest, mingle, or meditate on hidden meanings of gender expression and identity that are often taken for granted. The choice of medium—acrylic (yarn) on canvas—brings the work in dialogue with the history of white paintings in minimalist abstraction. The use of binary code also has an especially poignant connection to the history of textile production, when the jacquard loom and punch card knitting were both used to develop the first computer languages. This work is seen as a queering of many supposedly binary hierarchies, complicating and challenging distinctions of art & craft, digital & handmade, male & female. Its social impact functions in several ways: to make non-binary and gender-nonconforming people feel seen, to educate cis folks on gender beyond the binary, and to facilitate conversation about these ideas amongst the viewers.