Error I Cisblicken (beg.) av Wendel Strömberg

The cis norm could be described as the norm that forces everyone to be either female or male and that genitals, gender identity and juridical sex should be constant throughout a person’s lifetime. “Cis” means “on the same side” in Latin, and in this study Wendel Strömbeck, student at the Pedagogy Institution of Konstfack, University College of Arts, Crafts and Design, has coined the notion “the cis gaze”. “The cis gaze” refer to a performative act of sorting bodies into a female or male category. Wendel study how people with trans* experiences could experience gazes and pictures in relation to the cis norm. The study is based on the queer community that Wendel is a part of, and includes interviews and self-reflections. “Trans” means “to move over” in Latin and “trans*” refers to the whole spectra of possible ways of transgressing the cis norm. The study is devided into two parallel works, an essay and an artistic figuration, a comic book. The comic book includes rendering of the interviews that Wendel has carried out and an irreverent study of cis gendered persons. The essay also includes rendering of the same interviews and an analysis of a poster for the Hollywood movie Glen or Glenda from 1953