Baby Blue (2022)

Baby Blue is a hand painted, hand quilted indigo dyed quilt made from repurposed fabrics about growing up as a tomboy, and how those boy-ish experiences help me affirm my gender in my memories now since transitioning. It features moments from my childhood, and some important gender transition milestones.
As a trans person, my childhood & adolescent memories are not always affirming of my identity/body/self today. I tend to pick and choose certain childhood memories to hold onto, and which ones to let go of. Growing up as a tomboy and having lots of boy-ish experiences now help me affirm my gender in my memories since transitioning.
Baby Blue is about renewing those old memories, looking back on them and seeing the boy I was, sewing them back together, to form an affirming narrative that reflects who I am today. I made this baby quilt to comfort my younger self. To show him there is a future where he can be his authentic self. I loved incorporating textile terminology in this quilt and relating it to my gender transition. It’s so tender and tactile, and it shows how much I still care for the young person I used to be.
Indigo dyed handmade cotton quilt. Quilt size: 80cm L x 93cm H
2023 Unravelling Queerly, Australian Design Centre, NSW
2023 Unashamed, Artspace Chatswood, Chastwood, NSW
2023 QuiltNSW Exhibition 2023, Rosehill, NSW
2022 Mighty Real: Clifford Chance & Glamazon Pride Art Exhibition, M Contemporary Gallery, Darlinghurst, NSW

These smaller wall hangings were made from the quilt offcuts of Baby Blue. They were all created at the same time as their big sibling, Baby Blue.

They feature one moment or memory from the larger quilt. All patches are hand painted. All Sibling Quilts have new homes now.

Lizard - A young Sam age 3 crouches next to a tiny lizard in the grass. I’ve always loved small things and small creatures. One day I found a little lizard, all alone. I said to my Nanny, “What would his Mummy say?”. It’s a precious moment from my childhood that’s been remembered by others and repeated back to me so many times, it’s become a little legend in itself.
19cm x 23.5cm x 1.5cm

Overalls - A young Sam with a mushroom haircut wears a pair of overalls. I loved wearing overalls growing up. I used to called them “oberalls”, and collected rocks in the front pocket. Overalls are so tomboyish, paired with the mushroom haircut, is peak 90’s baby and overall, a very gender affirming outfit.
21cm x 22cm x 1.5cm

Star - A little hand points to a diamond star in the sky. Growing up I adored the children’s book “The Tooth Fairy” by Shirley Barber, 1995. The Tooth Fairy collected your tooth, and placed it in the night sky as a star. I remember a time when I lost a tooth as child, looking up at a single gold star out the front of my childhood home, and knowing it was my tooth. My parents told me a story of another time where I saw a light in the night sky on Great Keppel Island, and insisted it was my tooth too.
19cm x 23cm x 1.5cm

Vial - This is a vial of testosterone. It’s for a second puberty, and was vital for me to have this little vial for my medical transition, to authentically be present in my body again.
20cm x 21cm x 1.5cm

Scar - Reflecting inwards, and reconnecting to my body after top surgery. Feeling aligned, finally at peace.
This quilt does a gentle nod to its little sibling quilt, Star. Scar and Star both point, one outwards, and the other inwards. Both pinpointing moments of wonder and of ease. One in childhood, the other in queer adulthood.
25.5cm x 32.5cm x 1.5cm