This piece is coming out of a larger body of work processing my experience existing as a trans person in different spaces. Safe spaces v harmful spaces. Familiar v foreign. Inside v outside. Most recently working with home and trans bodies in comfort juxtaposed against the visceral, ridiculous experience of being in public bathroom spaces.

Public bathrooms have always been extremely uncomfortable to exist in as a trans person. Typically, they are gendered, and regardless of which one I use, I get misgendered and feel unwelcome. The transition from using the women's restroom to the men's has been particularly difficult for me. It became clear, the longer I have been using gender affirming care, that the women’s room was no longer a safe space for me. Recent politics regarding trans people in bathrooms have been sensationalized, and we are being persecuted for simply existing in (any space) public restrooms.

I feel alienated, fearful, disgusted, and ridiculous in the men’s room. This piece is an expression of those feelings. I decided to build this urinal because it is such a stark imagery of the men’s room. It is an experiment with material. Using surface texture, color, and various mediums to create a surreal embodiment of a typical urinal. The grooves and fluffy quality of the surface opposes that of the regular porcelain. The bright pink matte color is atypical and queers the urinal. The yellow spray foam imitates and exaggerates urine, expanding and creeping from the drain. I am questioning, through the ironic “gender neutral” gendered restroom sign to the side of the sculpture, who this piece of furniture is really for.