Image description: Drawing of a short-haired masc-presenting person wearing jeans, sneakers and a blue top looking into a mirror. The mirror has red curtains on each side tied back with ropes. The reflection shown in the mirror is femme-presenting in a pink frilly dress with long hair up in a ponytail.
About the artist
Sy Broom is a student living in rural Victoria, with their parents and sister. Sy grew up creating art and exploring different mediums, with a particular interest in film and music, but dabbling in other types of visual and written art. Their current creative outlet is through cosplay, with costuming, film, and music. They spend their limited free time in their community, particularly engaging with Skittles, the local LGBT youth group, and amateur theatre, but overall Sy is trying to focus on studying while they are still in school.
About the art
This piece ‘Mirrored in me’ is a more generalised version of Sy’s own trans experience, in that, what they see in the mirror does not equate to how they see themself. The character is looking through a shop window into an enchanted mirror that is sat inside, with a differing reflection than that of the person the audience can see is being reflected. Sy designed this to be interpreted in two different ways, representing both sides of the Trans spectrum. The first, a woman looking at her reflection and seeing everything she wants, who she truly is inside. In this, the shop widow is societal consumption and it’s reflection of desire, yet always being somewhat out of reach.
The second interpretation is a man looking into the mirror and seeing who they used to be, and the insecurities they used to have. Here the shop window is the harsh view of society, reflecting only the binary, never allowing change.
