So much of queer history and queer existence has been about assimilating with the shadows. Surviving by becoming unassuming — hiding, passing, tucking, binding, fucking in dark alleys and even darker back rooms. Emmett Stoffer’s work draws on the parts of history that brought queer and trans bodies into the light. They focus on queer desirability through open and honest displays of pleasure, by featuring trans, queer and gender non-conforming bodies in moments of self realization, by putting femmeness on the canvas and the public stage. Painting adamantly queer, trans, and gender non conforming bodies can be difficult when the world is always telling us that they are the epitome of undesirable. The epitome of shame. Emmett’s work aims to show the beauty of queer gratification, self indulgence and the resistance of queer pleasure.

Emmett Stoffer is a queer, transgender, femme, disabled visual artist currently living in Upstate New York. Their work focuses on queer desire and the honest and vulnerable display of trans and gender non-conforming bodies on canvas. As a self-taught artist who grew up in a small, isolated area of Northern California, Emmett draws on the diversity of trans and queer experience to make space for the perverts, gender explorers, and queerdos alike. Emmett challenges heteronormative constructions of desirability by showing self-pleasure on display through a vibrant ‘femme of center’ lens. They’re also a cat dad who loves Star Trek and coffee.