Charlemae Sexton was the artist-in-residence for the Spring 2026 cycle. During her residency, Charlemae explored the present standing of trans rights, specifically the mundane reality of day-to-day life as a trans person contrasted with the distress and anxiety caused by current events. Her residency culminated in an exhibition titled, A Life Despite All.
Using large-scale portraiture alongside smaller ambiguous paintings, A Life Despite All manifests the relationship between the trans community and the anxieties surrounding it, creating a visible “dual state.” This explores the relationship between a real living person and the intangible abstract ideas used to restrain one’s lived experiences – the reality of day-to-day existence and the unseen fears surrounding it. In this relationship, the ominous and uneasy imagery of the smaller abstractions hold little presence in comparison to vitality seen in each person’s portrait. Meanwhile, each portrait depicts a simple and human moment chosen by the individual’s answer to the question: what everyday moment makes you feel the most human? Within these moments of cooking, working out, or just taking a break, there is a universal bridge between differing beliefs and opinions that is often ignored in our digital age. Despite all our differences it connects every one of us. And regardless of the struggles inflicted on the trans community through legislation or otherwise, it does not stop the trans community from living no different or a life than anyone else in their day-to-day, despite it all.
