My grandmother knows I'm trans - Ethan Slater

Carbon ink on watercolor paper
12.5in x 30in
 
One of the worst parts of realizing you are going to have to be openly trans is visualizing keenly the tour of potentially disastrous conversations you're inevitably going to have. The one I feared most was my grandparents. I had little reason to. They're sweet deepwater hippies, but I love them so much that even the 1% chance of it going poorly was enough to make me seriously consider waiting for them to die before telling anyone. Eventually I broke and called them and just told them. The outpouring of emotion after that call made me feel like it was right to paint these right after. I guess it felt important to take a "photo" of some of the huge, different, often conflicting, things I was feeling.