Name Undisclosed

RS: In what ways have you experienced touch, or how has touch changed for you through the pandemic?
Undisclosed: Throughout the pandemic I: Went through two breakups and formed two new relationships, losing and gaining touch, started actively seeking treatment for my chronic illness, finally receiving touch from a care team that believes me, was unable to participate in kink events or dynamics, losing an integral part of how I relate to my body and experience touch, and came out as nonbinary, shifting concepts of my body and touch to my body.


RS: How do you define and or understand resilience as it relates to owning an identity that is marginalized?
Undisclosed: I am inspired, grateful, and exhausted by both my individual and the collective resilience existing within my marginalized identities. Resilience is something I have no ability to consent to. It constantly pounds at my door and throws rocks at my windows, holding a lit torch. And yet it also shows up in the sparkle of the sun on my skin and assuredly and calmly plants seeds for the following spring.

I hate it, I need it to survive, I envy those with less for their differing path.


RS: How does Austin play a role in your experience of touch and or resiliency?
Undisclosed: I've lived in Austin the majority of my life, and thus experienced almost all of my touch and resiliency here. Being here was not a choice of mine, nor was the level + type of touch I received, nor was the amount of resiliency I had to cultivate. The sheer vastness of memories and prints on my skin and soul are overwhelming, and I'm moving out of Austin this summer.


RS: What was your experience in creating your skin prints?
Undisclosed: It was much more challenging and connective than I originally expected!


RS: Where on your body did you choose to create your prints from? Why were/are these spots important to you? 
Undisclosed: I chose my hand and my stomach. These are the two places where I most experience chronic illness flares in terms of strength and frequency. They have significantly increased in quarantine, leading to a shakier/angrier but strangely closer relationship with my body than ever before.