Fortress (Protection)

In medieval times, the tower keep was a structure that functioned as the lord’s house, surrounded by a wall that served to protect their family and their servants. These keeps were highly functional, a home and an office for governing the land. If threats loomed, the family could pull the livestock and surrounding villagers inside their stone walls to fend off any threats, human or animal. This piece explores how the fortress can represent the person, place, or institution that provides a safe haven for a community. That community’s identity may be different for each viewer, but as a queer person, this figure is an embodiment of my queer and trans elders who spent their lives trying to make the world a safer place.

The figure is nearly life-sized, for each of us contains the power to be a fortress for our community. The figure peers down at the viewer, undaunted and unphased, from a protective cliff decorated with model grass, trees, and bushes. Designed to resemble Corvin’s Castle in Romania, the keep carries a lifetime of visible repairs and reinforcements with a patchwork of bricks, stone, and timber, each from a different architectural era. This demonstrates this figure is not without their wounds; but they have refortified themself many times over the decades, building their defenses so that they may protect those they contain, protect, and love.