The diversity of the middle: mythology in intersectional trans representation

Abstract

This article examines the use of mythological hybrid figures in works by two non-binary queer contemporary artists of color. For these artists, the intersection of their ethnic/religious identities and their queer identities leads them to experience a hindrance to full belonging in each of these communities. This results in a feeling of liminality or ‘in-betweenness’. In considering this ‘in-betweenness’ as an intersectional liminality, the author argues that these artists utilize mythological hybrid figures in their work to articulate this experience as one of potential, rather than foreclosure. In so doing, this article seeks to challenge, and possibly transform, the notion of the hybrid as a composite of oftentimes irreconcilable parts one must navigate and move between into a site of creative promise. Rooting this re-evaluation of liminality and hybridity in the verbal and artistic articulations of queer non-binary artists of color centers these voices in the construction of new notions of hybridity and liminality.