Aftermath of Ladies Room

Ladies Room (close up), Chaz Howkins, 2017, interactive installation

Ladies Room (close up), Chaz Howkins, 2017, interactive installation

Ladies Room (close up), Chaz Howkins, 2017, interactive installation 

Ladies Room (close up), Chaz Howkins, 2017, interactive installation

Ladies Room (close up), Chaz Howkins, 2017, interactive installation

I was very glad to see how many people interacted with Ladies Room while it was exhibited at Queer Art(ists) Now, creating a great pile of discarded toilet tissue on the floor below the dispenser.  Seeing the pile of tissues grow on the floor, being trodden on, dripped on, completely discarded really emphasised the throwaway nature of the comments people make to queer people in gendered spaces.  When someone in the ladies room asks me 'are you a woman?' it's a fleeting moment for them, they don't think about what they're saying, they just throw their words at me... but for me it sticks, it piles up, I can't just throw it away.

Queer Art(ists) Now

Ladies Room, Chaz Howkins, 2017, interactive installation

Self with work - Ladies Room

Queer Art(ists) Now provides a snap-shot of what artists within our communities are making right now; an insight into the thoughts, preoccupations, aesthetics, and politics of queer artists.

I was excited to have the opportunity to exhibit Ladies Room as it is an interactive piece and I wanted to witness the public's engagement with it.  The piece had a very positive response with hundreds of people taking the toilet tissues from the dispenser and dropping them on the floor to create a great pile of the discarded words.

Genderhouse Festival

Myself with my artwork - Are You A Boy Or A Girl?

Myself with my artworks - Gendered Space (series)

Myself with my artworks - Gendered Space (series)

Myself with my artworks - Gendered Space (series)

After the incredible honour of having an entire room in the Women's Museum dedicated to my work, I was even more thrilled to be informed that the Women's Museum have requested my film and photographic series to be added to their permanent collection.  The works will remain on show in the museum for an extended period of time.

Genderhouse Festival

Talking Genders Youth Exhibition - Genderhouse Festival - Women's Museum, Aarhus, Denmark

Talking Genders Youth Exhibition - Genderhouse Festival - Women's Museum, Aarhus, Denmark

Talking Genders Youth Exhibition - Genderhouse Festival - Women's Museum, Aarhus, Denmark

Talking Genders Youth Exhibition - Genderhouse Festival - Women's Museum, Aarhus, Denmark

Talking Genders Youth Exhibition - Genderhouse Festival - Women's Museum, Aarhus, Denmark

Talking Genders Youth Exhibition - Genderhouse Festival - Women's Museum, Aarhus, Denmark

The Genderhouse Festival was a month celebration of queer arts in Aarhus, with performances, workshops and exhibitions throughout the city throughout September.

I was thrilled to discover that an entire room of the Women's Museum had been dedicated to my work.  My film, Are You A Boy Or A Girl?, was projected large scale onto the walls, surrounded by my photographic series, Gendered Space.  The entire exhibition was beautifully curated, queering the walls of the gendered exhibition space.

CWND Artists Residency

Residency activity outcome

Residency activity outcome

Outcomes from an 'introduce yourself/your practice' activity on the first day of CWND artists residency.

Orbit UK Art Graduates Show

Myself with my artwork - Don't Linger

Myself with my friends and family and my artwork - Don't Linger

Audience interaction with Don't Linger  

Audience interaction with Don't Linger 

Orbit UK Art Graduates Show was an exhibition to showcase the talent of recent Fine Art graduates.  (One third of) Don't Linger was exhibited at OXO Tower Bargehouse in August and was very well received by the audience.

Genderhouse Festival

Genderhouse Festival Poster

The Genderhouse Festival is a month long arts festival in Aarhus, Denmark which addresses themes of genders, sexualities and identities today. It asks what's queer? Is it here? Are we used to it?

My film, Are You A Boy Or A Girl? and some photography is being exhibited at the Women's Museum as part of the Talking Genders Youth Exhibition.

www.thegenderhousefestival.com 

Portrait Drawings

Don't Linger - detail

Don't Linger - detail

Don't Linger - detail

Don't Linger - detail

Don't Linger - detail

A selection of the portrait drawings which can be found under the toilet seats lids of Don't Linger.

It's Okay, They're Men's Nipples - postcards

It's Okay, They're Men's Nipples - printed as postcard

I had a collage piece, It's Okay, They're Men's Nipples, printed onto postcards which were sold at the Degree Show shop and the Orbit Art Show shop and will be for sale again at future events.

Don't Linger - detail

Don't Linger - detail

Don't Linger - detail

Don't Linger - detail

Don't Linger - detail

Detail shots from Don't Linger while installed at Loughborough Fine Art Degree Show 2018.

Don't Linger detail

Don't Linger (close up pre-installation)

Don't Linger (close up pre-installation)

Don't Linger (close up pre-installation)

Some examples of the text elements of Don't Linger, which can be revealed by lifting up the lids of the toilet seats.

Interaction with Don't Linger

Don't Linger with audience 

Don't Linger with audience

Don't Linger with audience

Don't Linger with audience 

Don't Linger with audience

Public interaction with Don't Linger at Loughborough Fine Art Degree Show 2018.

Don't Linger

Don't Linger, Chaz Howkins, 2018, installation (toilet seats, pen, pencil on paper)

Don't Linger - Detail

Don't Linger - Detail

Don't Linger - Detail

Don't Linger - Detail

Don’t Linger is an interactive installation of 27 toilet seats mounted to a wall; the viewer can lift up the lids of the toilet seats to reveal portrait drawings and text.  The portraits are realistic pencil drawings of androgynous or gender non-conforming people and the text comes from their individual stories of anxiety or harassment they’ve experienced in public gendered spaces.

​Don’t Linger questions the difference between gender identity and gender expression as well as the difference between gender and sex while critiquing the rigid segregation of gender in public spaces.  The intention is to showcase the experiences of queer people navigating gendered spaces, particularly public bathrooms, in the hope of making a predominantly non-queer audience reconsider how they interact with members of the queer community within these spaces.

DD/MM/YY

Myself with my artwork

08/12/2017, Chaz Howkins, 2018, pencil on paper and pen on toilet seat

DD/MM/YY was an exhibition by students from Beuyce Studio as part of the inter-studio exhibition competition at The Welcome Mat.

Text experimentation

Experimentation with text - printed and written directly on the wall.