Same Molecule (working title) 2025– Testosterone troches, wax, diamonds, photographs
My daughter mistook my hormone replacement for diamond art wax. She wasn't wrong. Both are small, red, waxy squares. Both are domestic objects handled with precision. Both dissolve into something larger.
She is approaching puberty. I am in perimenopause. We are in the same house, traveling in opposite directions on the same hormonal road.
Testosterone is prescribed to menopausal women as maintenance: medical, routine, covered. It is prescribed to trans men as identity: gatekept, contested, in many states now restricted. The molecule does not change. The body receiving it determines its legal status.
This project begins with a photograph and a question my daughter didn't know she was asking.