Trial
Installation
Georgia, United States

Trial explores the tension between sexuality, stigma, and self-representation through a constructed space that holds desire and restriction side by side.It centers the story of Nina Martinez, reflecting on the experience of being asexual while living with HIV, while also holding a desire to feel and be seen as sexy.

The installation brings together a metal bed frame, mirror, lustre print, polyester thread, plastic figurines, a blown glass sculpture by Brian Markowicz, and a wooden ladder. Spread across the space, these elements suggest intimacy, but never allow it to fully settle. Instead of showing the body directly, the work lets objects carry that presence.

Reflection, suspension, and fragmentation shape how the viewer moves through the piece. What can be seen is always partial, shifting, and slightly out of reach. The body is never fully there, but still felt, dispersed across materials that speak to closeness, exposure, and distance.

Trial places identity within overlapping pressures of desire, stigma, and control. It reflects the complexity of wanting to be recognized as a sexual being while navigating systems that impose limitation, misunderstanding, and judgment.