Goldendean presents moments of radical softness celebrating the right of bodies like theirs to be seen as beautiful, safe, and worthy of love – glowing, breathing, inflatable sculptures to tenderly defy the social violence that would rather see them weak or traumatised, or render them invisible and erased. Critical of tempting hypervisibility again, the artist asks how do we let ourselves feel when it would be safer for us to be invulnerable? In these “comfort objects”, Goldendean is developing intimate works at the intersection of art and love.

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Dean Hutton is a genderqueer* trans media artist provoking dialogue about the gaze, queer bodies, love and social justice. They have worked across photojournalism, print, digital, video and social media,performance and community action since the late 1990s. Their studio practices bridge the intersecting genres of documentary, fiction and fantasy to produce radical queer counter-narratives. In an evolving public performance as Goldendean, their strategy of simple (and often improvised) disruptive actions by a “Fat Queer White Trans body” share moments of soft courage to affirm the right of all bodies to exist, be celebrated and protected.