REDEFINING GENDER

Elephant Magazine Issue 31

We take a look at the Summer edition of Elephant Magazine for which the team has focussed on gender, with an edition of the magazine that aims to redefine identity and sexuality for the 21st century.

This latest issue opens with an analysis of a 2015 study of British and US adults which asked participants to place themselves on the Kinsey scale – the results suggested a major generational shift in the way people think about and define their sexuality and gender. For example, 68% of 18-24 year olds believe that gender can be a range of identites.

Increasingly, many artists have begun to explore gender identity in non-binary terms, and for this issue Elephant looked around the world to find the artists who are redefining gender for the 21st century, or in most cases disregarding the definitions of gender altogether. Featuring work by artists such as Gillian Wearing, Ren Hang, Eric Gyamfi, A.L.Steiner, Mx Justin Vivian Bond, Yoshiko Shimada, You can read Mx Justin Vivian Bond’s feature online here.

A photograph by the late Chinese photographer Ren Hang graces the cover. Hang’s work is central to this issue due to the way in which he saw beyond gender; his vision allowed him to transcend boundaries and capture his own reality of bodies which are free from associations of gender. His depiction of his own honest and straightforward view of the world is what makes his images so startling and intriguing in the same moment.

A review of David Mach’s colossal sculpture at Griffin Gallery is featured in the printed issue and a live stream of Mach’s installation was featured on the Elephant website. Click here to read our interview with Mach about his career, education and the materials he chooses to use in his artwork.

The Elephant website is populated with articles and news to complement the printed edition, including reviews of exhibitions art fairs and events. Check out their reviews of Venice Biennale, a bi-annual art event which has taken over Venice until November here.

Every issue of Elephant Magazine includes a carefully curated Paper Gallery, and for this issue the gallery is dedicated to the lucid illustrative dreaming of Klaus Kremmerz, in addition to Encounters with Jose Dávila, Marcel Dzama, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Kahlil Joseph, Santiago Sierra and Febienne Verdier.

Pick up the latest issue of Elephant in newsagents across the UK, or buy online here.

To find out more visit the Elephant website.