Jamilynn Kraft

she/her

USA

Jamilynn Kraft is an amateur artist who enjoys experimenting with many mediums. Her favorite is charcoal on white paper. She was born in Sebring, Florida and has been drawing for 8 years. She became interested in drawing YouTube videos on drawing in Japanese anime style, and she took classes on realism and design in middle and high school. She is a Biomedical science major, and hopes to become a medical doctor, but still draws in her free time.

This work was inspired by my personal experiences being a member of the LGBTQIA2+ community, the experiences of others' in the community, and the struggles and misrepresentation we face. Trans* individuals and bisexual/pansexual women experience intimate partner violence, sexual violence, and hate motivated violence at greater percentages than other LGBTQIA2+ communities. Looking through any adult website, portrayals of trans* people and bisexual women in media, and personal experiences of people in these groups, you will find extreme sexualization and fetishization of these groups and their relationships. So to provide representation of and destigmatize the relationships of bisexual and trans* individuals, I wanted to showcase a sweet interaction between two people who are in love. The pain of these communities is too often capitalized off of, so I wanted to portray safety, joy, and love.

This artist's work is viewable only in the in-person exhibit at the University of South Florida in CMC 202 (Department of Women's & Gender Studies).