Bottom Surgery

Statement: Quality visual references are not available for gender care teams to use when discussing options for bottom surgery with gender diverse patients. This may lead to a deficit in communication. Furthermore, they often do not have nuanced language about gender, and do not show the full range of options. The options for bottom surgery are determined by an individual’s anatomy and personal preferences for aesthetics and function. Productive conversations between a patient and surgical team are significant in managing post-operative expectations. This series of 14 posters has been created to enhance conversations between patient and surgical team, with a focus on the variety of options available to gender diverse patients based on their personal goals. I focus on making them feel painterly as a way to engage the viewer, making it more likely for them to retain the information being depicted. 

Patient education done successfully is proven to decrease anxiety and increase the success of procedures. Furthermore, the saturated colors, rendered textures, and diversity within the people depicted help viewer’s identify with an image that represents them. Each illustration is done with purposeful mark making with the paintbrush. Bold, rounded title fonts help to make my patient education feel less clinical, and more approachable by a general audience. Between the graphic design and rendering choices, i truly believe the work has a sense of humanity that speaks to the viewer. 

I am trying to fight misconceptions about bottom surgery in the stylistic choices. To combat the misconception that neo-genitals are “not alive,” “not real,” or don't have sensation,  all necessary blood vessels and nerves are included in the illustrations and specifically labeled. Furthermore, current illustrations available tend to be rendered with vector tools, making the figures look like plastic, which further affirms this misconception. To combat this I have rendered the skin naturalistically, with saturated color, textures and hair.

Tissues under the skin (fatty tissue, muscle, blood, etc) are not naturalistically rendered. This is important information, but when rendered this way can be off-putting to the general public.

Textured paper was absolutely necessary. The colored pencil running over the tiny indentations creates a beautiful skin texture. The tactility of the textured paper activates a physicality to the work.