Graduation Year

2026

Document Type

Campus Only Senior Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Art

Reader 1

Aly Ogasian

Reader 2

Ken Gonzales-Day

Reader 3

Kim-Trang Tran

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Rights Information

© Kaya Rae Savelson

Abstract

My project explores the relationship between gender and expression, and uses photography as a means of representing queer people in order to challenge the gender binary. I examine how non-binary and gender non-conforming people disrupt the patriarchal structures that rely on fixed categories of ‘male’ and ‘female’ to maintain control. In my project titled ‘Bounds of Expression’, I use the technique of photo-joiners in which multiple images are collaged together to create a portrait of a person. In the context of this project, the term ‘gender identity’ refers to the deep inner feelings a person has about being male, female, both, or neither. The term ‘gender expression’ refers to how a person outwardly expresses themselves through appearance, for example, how they dress and behave. The term ‘gender non-conforming’ explains an expression of gender that does not align with a person's gender identity or assigned sex at birth. A gender non-conforming person can be cisgender, transgender, or non-binary. The term ‘non-binary’describes a person who feels neither male or female; they exist somewhere in between or outside of the gender binary.

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