While other kids I knew wanted to grow up to be firemen, doctors, astronauts
and movie stars, I wanted to be a robot. As an adult, I like to think
that this identification was a way for me to opt out of a gender binary
system, aspiring to something other than male or female. After all, robots
are not really gendered, and unless designed for purposes of sex, operate
outside of the boundaries of biological imperative. Imagining myself
free from the constraints of the body, I did not have to be a boy or
girl.
Now, my friends and I argue about whether robots are gendered or not.
Some think that robots are, by cultural default, male. This assumption
falls in line with the idea that anything that is not specifically gendered
is male. Others argue that robots are intrinsically female, designed
to fill the stereotypical roles of servitude and subservience expected
of women. For me, robots remain outside of gender, and provide an ideal
subject to use as a relief valve, a place where community polemic gives
way to personal fun.
I revisit robots as subject matter frequently, envisioning them in action,
as players in their own stories, and making up new ones as I go along.
Nodding to childhood dreams, these creations evoke innocent aspirations
and explorations. These robots are presented as papercuts, ink drawings,
and laserprint transfer on panel and paper, materials that allow the
directness of the work to manifest.
Greetings from
Robot City reflects my ongoing interest in anthropomorphic structure,
the idea that the city is full of living buildings, and that this would
be a kind of magic playground for my robots.
Would you like to help me decide whether robots have
gender or not? Vote your decisions here!
Eliot K Daughtry
June 2007