Brandon Giessmann: Projections ± Predispositions

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Brandon Giessmann, "Projections ± Predispositions," 2018

Projections ± Predispositions considers the parallels between exclusion from public and private spaces, through the dual lenses of marginalization and trauma, which work to sever confidence in safety and bodily autonomy. Soil from past installations creates a bed, a place for potential growth, reflection, and rest, while a distressed sheet evokes intimacies between those who have been, are, and will be. The surrounding pansies are disrupted by barbed wire, violent boundaries demanding exile, submission, and observation. As the flowers wilt due to a lack of care, the wire makes its presence increasingly known, holding up the plants as examples of what is to come as these structures remain.

Brandon Giessmann is a Canadian visual artist and writer who explores how trauma, gender, and sexuality intersect in response to notions of identity and its related politics. Giessmann is interested in codifying and veiling information to consider how his projects interact with one another, the spaces they inhabit, and how reusing materials can inform present and future work. Installations and performances become vessels for conversation and reflection, where he addresses his own trauma, the process of healing, and his fear of social and institutional repercussion as a gay man. These thoughts are translated into various collections of critical text, creative writing, and visual art that help him understand his own positions and feelings regarding these often confusing topics and the disorientation he continues to experience due to his privileges as a cisgender white male recovering from past sexual assault and abuse. Brandon Giessmann is a recent BFA graduate from the Alberta College of Art + Design and is a University at Buffalo MFA candidate.