Jaz Marshall Whiteley Steel

January 23 – March 5, 2024

Prairie Crocus

Has it been 3 years? Or 4?

Maybe it’s already been five

Since I, un-shockingly to many, felt a need to shed skin, 

Moult my discomfort into dust, 

Discomfort can teach so much, but only so much 

Trying to digest the strange need to be something else, yet not someone else. 

Patch to patch, pulled most indelicately from my skin, their skin

Painfully yanking, a crust of glue left behind,

Each taking particles of a past identity, 

Wearing all of these, could you steal my identity?

Needles invisibly bloody, 

Stored in a neon sharps bin 

Gender, the word tastes foul and rotted in my mouth

How hard it is to escape the concept of it

When everyone you meet seems to be incapable of avoiding the topic

I myself am not immune to gendering a passerby, 

Successfully indoctrinated into this categorical system 

Though I have no concept of their history, my assumptions easily turn into fallacy

The waterfall of detritus, a comical experience, 

This heap of garbage, is what made me, me? 

Only physically of course, but isn’t that strange, 

Some oil, injections and stickers, 

Made this “girl” into some sort of “man”?

Jaz [Marshall] Whiteley-Steel is a multidisciplinary artist from Mokhinstis (“calgary”) Alberta who also goes by the Drag pseudonym Ultra Violet. They are currently focused on expressions of gender and sexuality at the intersection of mental health, and neurodiversity: as a trans nonbinary-queer-person. They are a drag and burlesque performer, and an unprofessional dancer/movement enthusiast. They are also a jeweller, illustrator, and maker of many things. They are the founder of SCP (Satanic Cowboy Productions) which puts on alternative gender-non-conformist focused shows. They can be found online mainly as enbiienvy or ultraviolet.