Erin Holly

(b 1986United Kingdom. Lives and works in London)

“The root of the word archive, ‘arch’ also comes from archeon, a place of residence, a house and a dwelling place. Exclusion and inclusion, inside and outside are at the centre of homes. Similarly, the concept of the body as a dwelling space can be seen in the phrase, ‘your body is a temple” or ‘‘feeling at home in your body’’.

The painter creates a marking, scoring and storing on the canvas not as something fixed, as to be housed, but a place ‘to be alive’. I turn away from the idea of being ‘housed’ in my body because the relationship between trans people and architecture is hidden, uneasy and opposing on the surface. As a trans woman my body is not a fixed dwelling, but rather a work in progress, occupying the space of transition and becoming”.

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