Adrien Thompson

The Mirror represents the dysphoria and discontent I feel in my body. I want to show the parts of my body that are not usually seen and have been a source of pain and discomfort for many years. As a queer person, some parts of my body are not as they should be in my mind, and living everyday in the wrong body is debilitating sometimes. Waking up and looking in the mirror and seeing a completely different person is extremely distressing, and sometimes it can make my day much worse. Honing in on the aspects that make me uncomfortable have helped me realize what I can do to improve and see the beauty in my body even though it isn\'t where I want it to be.

For this project, I wanted to focus on the queer body, and how our differences make us beautiful. I wanted to highlight the different parts of the queer body, each limb that makes us different and turn them into something beautiful. The queer body has been debated for a long time, with questions such as “What is a queer body” and “How does the queer body affect daily life.” A queer body is simply the body of someone who is queer, but it is so much more than that at the same time. It can be the source of great misery, pain, and suffering; Or the source of euphoria and joy. Every person’s body is different, and I wanted my work to reflect that each part of the body has its own story, its own meaning to the person. Most of my research was done by reading journals of queer people talking about heavily debated topics like “Is transgender top and bottom surgery a cosmetic or a necessary surgery?” and basic transgender rights of their own bodies. The queer body is not something scientific, and can only be analyzed by talking to queer people and experience as a queer person, so looking into scientific research felt wrong and very unemotional, and I wanted to go for something more emotional and directly connected to the queer person themself, rather than looking at it as a whole. This question can also be tied into the “How does the queer body affect daily life?” Some queer people feel body dysphoria (a great sense of unease or dissatisfaction in one\'s body) and can cause mental trauma and distress on the person. Dysphoria can lead to changing the body in ways that help the person change their body to be what it is supposed to be. For example, top surgery is the operation to rid the body of the breasts, creating a flatter, more masculine chest, and is typical among many FTM (female to male) Transgender or Nonbinary (Neither Female nor Male) people. This is just one of the many surgeries that can help a queer person feel more secure and right in their own body. Hormone therapy is also fairly common, Testosterone or Estrogen, which can change body features, voice pitch, and other aspects of the body. On the other hand, some queer people are content in their body, and their body causes no mental trauma or distress. These people tend to not get surgeries or voice changers, but are no less valid than the people that do. Every queer person\'s body is unique and I want to combine both of those feelings together– show both sides of the coin, combining both mentalities into one queer body that has been combined with many others in harmony.

This is a collection of all the artwork that I made for fun while I was in Ireland. I loved focusing on the natural beauty of the world around me, exploring, and learning about the culture around me.

This was a series of photos where I took pictures of students interacting with the land, becoming familiar with, and learning about the culture behind a new place. This was set in Ireland in 2022 during the fall at the Burren College of Art and shot on 35mm black and white film.

In Studio Meltdown I wanted to express the freedom that I would like to feel while making art. Sometimes, my art can feel like a cage and I lose my joy, but then I rekindle my love for photo by just being free and having a Studio Meltdown.

In Chosen, I explore the close and often unnoticed relationships between queer roommates living together. I want to show the special and deep connections that can happen in everyday moments when people find comfort in each other\'s company. For me, \"home\" means more than just the physical place—it\'s also about the feelings and connections we share with those we live with. In the context of queer roommates, I\'m trying to celebrate the beauty in simple things like laughing together, understanding each other, and feeling safe to be ourselves. I aim to capture the subtle details of these relationships—the things we don\'t always say out loud, the support we give each other, and how living together can be a powerful and transformative experience. In a world that can sometimes be lonely, I want to show how shared spaces and experiences can create a home that\'s more than just walls—a place where love, acceptance, and being true to yourself are the most important things.

The Day After represents the heartbreak and grief that I have gone through since losing a friend of mine to suicide in 2020. Grief is shown in many ways and is not a linear process. This was a series of photos the day before my friend\'s anniversary where I was trying to grieve in the shower.

This was a self portrait series where I was trying to show the many different faces I have around different people. This series was loosely inspired by the Japanese proverb of the tree faces. The first you show to the world, the second you show to your friends and family, and the third you show nobody, it\'s your truest self.