MORPHAE

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We have learned that the body can only be the body. That the limit is the skin.

They pointed fingers at us: monsters.

We stayed calm. Calm like a caterpillar in its cocoon. Then some, like Morphae, take all the leftovers lying around. Calmly, discreetly, they accumulate in their cocoon everything that normality rejects. Pieces of fabric, plastic. For us, the monsters, every trash can is a visit to the Louvre. Morphae is proof that no, the skin is not the container. And no, we are not calm. 

All the time, all the time, all the time, we work for emancipation.

What is your identity or your view of yourself and what you do?

Morphae_

I am a transmedia artist based in Brussels, non-binary trans feminine. I am part of the neuroatypical spectrum, which is quite important in the construction of my character because it greatly influences what I do. I am primarily a drag performer, but also interested in design, makeup, and, more broadly, creating visual works to support what I do.

My practice is very much focused on metamorphosis, that is, the change of form. This metamorphosis is nonlinear, meaning I do not go from a less evolved form to a more evolved form. It is not an evolution towards something better, it is a constant evolution in random directions. It is just a search for forms, new aesthetics, new concepts depending on how I feel at the moment. It is really a medium of research rather than a medium that evolves towards a specific goal.

I am variably satisfied with my work because I am extremely perfectionist. Additionally, being constantly in search of new things, it is difficult to be content with what I do. It has always been like that. My practice is mainly based on my personal experience, with the aim of healing myself, so a kind of personal therapy that I link a lot to the practice outside of art, which is medicine. I am a medical student and for me, drag is also a therapeutic tool that I use for myself first and which I hope is a representation that also brings care to others. So Morphae is a tool for community care.

How does it evolve?

As I just said, since I started doing drag, more or less two and a half years ago, I see an evolution in the professionalism and the quality of the materials I offer. However, regarding the concept itself, there is no evolution towards something bigger, better, or more sophisticated. It is constantly a search for themes, emotions, different concepts that cannot be hierarchically classified. It is just the way I approach them and the quality of the result that obviously improves because I start working more and more, and that is cool. But my purpose does not improve, it is really a nonlinear metamorphosis, and that is very important.

In general, the things I am most proud of, that work best, are often very unforeseen things that happened really gradually. For example, my duct tape wigs are increasingly becoming my signature. It really happened very randomly. I was performing and I realized that my wig did not always go with what I was wearing. I had to find a solution, so I found a roll of duct tape and made a wig out of duct tape. Since then, I do it almost every time I perform. That is why I always stay open and in search of new things because, who knows, one day I might find something that suits me even better than duct tape.

If you could do anything today, what would you do?

If I could do anything, I would like to collaborate with designers on the creation, artistic direction of shows, performances, fashion shows. To express my creativity with the help of an accomplished designer to create a fashion show or a performance. I would like to collaborate with Tim Walker, a photographer I love immensely, and it would be my dream to work with him. Likewise, I would love to collaborate with Fecal Matter, whom I have met several times, but I really want to work with them. If I could do anything, I would like to perform in Seattle because I lived there for a year six years ago, and I would love to go back to where I lived and perform there. It would be a kind of full-circle moment for me and that I would really like.

Also, I used to be a model before, and now that I'm starting to build a career, I would like to restart. 

I would like to spend a few months in an East Asian country, like Japan or Korea, particularly Korea, for a sort of residency for a few months. My best friend from the United States is Korean and I have experienced a lot in that culture. 

Starting to do really big editorial photoshoots published in major magazines, to try archives of McQueen and Margiela. Travel a lot, go around the world.

A big dream would be to bring In Vitro, which is my show in Belgium of which I have already done a first edition, to do a very large show and export it internationally. I would be delighted to fill a huge hall full of people to come and see that show.

What is your relationship with fashion?

For me, fashion, in the broadest sense, is clothes, garments, because I have always considered it as a means of expression. To make visible outwardly the inner universe, emotions, how we feel, affinities. So for me, it is really just a means of expression. I do not see it as a way to be more beautiful, it is really a way to express things and tell stories. To find new forms and to be able to emancipate from the form of the human body which is very fixed in the flesh, because we cannot change the shape of our body. Fashion has always been very important to me in artistic creation and in my personal identity. Because I have always identified with visuals of monsters, aliens, things that do not exist because that is really how I was always treated when I was young, I was always called a monster. So I turned very strongly to designers who seek that. Obviously Alexander McQueen, who is my biggest reference. I love the pure expressions of discomfort with society. I could cite other inspirations like Margiela or Galliano, with the deconstructed side, the research of fabric, the crafty side that I have embraced and that I am sometimes criticized for. It is something that I adore and that inspires me enormously, as well as Iris Van Herpen with her very biomimetic side. Because I am extremely inspired by nature, biomimicry is really at the center of the research of what I do and I look for that in fashion.

For me, fashion remains an extremely separate world, almost ideal in a sense because it is really inaccessible as it is very gatekept, very privileged in terms of finance, and it is very hard to access that sphere. It is really a very idealized sphere in my mind.

What is missing in fashion?

A lot of inclusivity and accessibility for marginalized people are missing. We have a queer representation that is increasing a little in the fashion world, but it remains very normative and led by people who are mostly cisgender. So we have a lot of homosexual people at the head of fashion houses, but it has to remain very commercial and sellable. Obviously, we use queer people when they are thin and white, and I think there is a lack of inclusivity for people with disabilities, racialized people, precarious people, because the fashion world is accessible to rich people or those with high social status. It pisses me off a lot, it annoys me. I think there is a lack of space where we can have access and see fashion shows. I, being from a middle-class background but having a foot in fashion, drag, and art, feel very privileged compared to the population. I have never been to a fashion show, except when it was me walking. I have never been invited to a fashion show. So I think that is missing. Inclusivity so that it can be democratized, that everyone can have access and see a fashion show. A real one.

What is also missing for me is what used to be there before. An interest in research and aesthetics. Because now we are in a sort of period of hyper-consumption and hyper-commercialization of fashion where, every month, brands launch a new collection with about thirty looks. Actually, quantity production suffers a bit from quality production. I think that is why Margiela's show by Galliano was incredible because Galliano spent a lot of time creating this collection and it showed. So I think that is what is missing. Research and a slower creative process, low fashion. Because fashion is becoming almost fast fashion as it goes so quickly in design creation.

Regarding inclusivity, I think there is obviously a lack of many artistic directors and designers, primarily of brands that are women. For now, we have a lot of white men, young or old, but heteronormative, even if they are homosexual. Where are the women? Where are the feminine, queer, and racialized people? There is also a lack of political and social engagement. I think fashion is very disconnected from the world we live in and ignores societal conflicts and tragedies like the genocide in Palestine. It is very disconnected and feels very "Hunger Games" where we live in a fast and very rich world while next to it, it is misery.

Finally, there is a lack of valuing textile manipulation, especially unconventional textiles, using plastic for example. Really innovating in material design. Obviously, this is becoming more democratized and that is really cool, but I think it remains a bit marginal, a bit shy. It feels like if you are not commercial and do not sell yourself, you cannot exist. Which is a shame because, as a result, we do not see all the incredible ideas some people have with very innovative stuff because they do not sell and are not favored in the hierarchy.

What is there too much of in fashion?

What there is too much of in fashion are the collections. The turnover of collections is too fast for what is humanly possible to create well-researched designs and silhouettes. It goes way too fast, actually. And there are too many privileged people.

L. Etchart is an artist, performer, and writer born in Montévidéo in Uruguay . She lives now in France. Sensitized to the struggles of minority and queer groups, her work revolves around a decolonial approach.

As a child of Tupamaro guerrillas in Uruguay, her upbringing unfolded amidst the fight against fascism, surrounded by love and with parents who were former revolutionaries and political refugees.

In 2023, she published Tupamadre with Terrasses editions, a publishing house committed to showcasing queer and experimental literatures. It's a touching, sensitive, and humorous book that aims to be political through its writing. Etchart creates a minimalist language where French hybridizes with Spanish, resulting in a writing style devoid of punctuation, accents, or correct spelling. It's a raw and straightforward language that reads as swiftly as listening to a stream of words. This approach encourages readers to focus on the content rather than the form.