About the Cover Art

I grew up on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan attuned to the ever‐changing meeting places of land, water, and sky. When I was four years old, construction of a twin‐reactor nuclear power plant less than half a mile away caused erosion that that sent homes toppling over the dunes. Witnessing this and other environmental devastations while simultaneously growing up unintelligible (transgender before we had much language for it), I became preoccupied with creation, destruction, and the interplay of visible and nonvisible aspects of embodiment and the environment. These themes continue to shape my artistic imagination. How, in the face of violence and loss, do we stay open to love and connection with all that is? How, when capitalism, fascism, and fear make a mockery of all that sustains life, do we embrace transformation and the unknown?My Maps of the World series arose spontaneously without any concept, but collectively, I realize, they do speak to an autobiographical and perhaps more common story. In these images the abodes, locations, and elements I deeply love are composed of their own precarity and a dialogue between threatening processes and sublime beauty.