AMY STOCKLEIN
Kaci Sullivan, a transgender artist, painted a series of self-portraits, which became a catalyst for the TransLiberation Art Coalition.
To prepare for a series of painted self-portraits, Kaci Sullivan sat naked in front of a mirror.
“I decided that...I’m going to look at myself, I’m going to deal with myself ,” says the 30-year-old Sullivan. “I’m just going to try to appreciate and validate what is there.”
As a transgender man, he was trying to grapple with who he is. So Sullivan began looking at himself in a subjective way, which he had never done before.
“This series was super important for me to work on and was extremely therapeutic and so powerful in all these ways,” Sullivan says.
Sullivan — who received international coverage for giving birth last year after taking a break from male hormones — paints in his busy apartment. His art lines the walls, boxes are all over and one cat and a ferret run free. He likes how little elements can combine to make a whole, which is a characteristic that runs through all of his paintings.
The paintings clearly show Sullivan as the subject, but there are minor differences from one to the next. The tattoos (he has many) are different from painting to painting; in one portrait, Sullivan has a few hoop earrings on the left ear, while the other two don’t.
In making the paintings, he utilized techniques from “plein air” — a French expression meaning “open air.” Basically, he ignored some of the usual painting rules, electing to move his brush more freely, a decision which shows in his final three portraits.
The project, which he started two years ago, became a catalyst for his creating a space for transgender artists. He realized that there weren’t any platforms, online or in real life, for transgender artists to share this type of work and connect.
“We get together to protest; we get together to mourn our dead — but when are we getting together to celebrate each other?” says Sullivan, who studies business administration at Madison College.
In the fall of 2016, he started reaching out to other community groups, including OutReach and UW-Madison’s LGBT Campus Center, and he discovered there was interest in collaborating. Then, he says, he spent months carefully putting together a team that was diverse in both race and ability.
“How am I going to realize what issues there are or how to properly talk to people of color when that’s not my story?” Sullivan says. “The first thing to realize was that I could not do this properly on my own.”
Eventually, the TransLiberation Art Coalition formed, with Sullivan as executive director. Its first event was in spring 2017, which showcased about 30 artists, including spoken word performers and painters. The group’s next show is April 14 from 5 to 9 p.m. at Badger Rock Neighborhood Center, 501 E. Badger Road.
“Every time we do this show the response is greater,” Sullivan says. “And so to see this [many artists] right away is really encouraging.”
In addition to his work with the coalition, Sullivan stays busy with his classes at Madison College and raising two children with his partner. His art provides a respite to his complicated life.
“I found this sort of quiet place of acceptance and it’s good because I don’t think dysphoria ever goes away,” he says. “When you’re living in that sort of a neat contradiction I think you kind of have to find your peace with that every day.”
17: How old Sullivan was when he first started painting.
4: Members of TransLiberation Art Coalition executive board.
5 months: The age of Sullivan’s baby.
1: Ferret running around his apartment.
