Submerged is a mixed media sculpture that explores identity, and the absurd constraints imposed by rigid perception’s of gender. Encased in a round, transparent fishbowl, the figure, both; fish, human and neither floats in a suspended state, caught between containment and weightlessness, realism and artifice. The face is deliberately androgynous, but with the addition of stylised hair and false elongated lashes, a feminine identity is projected onto it. This tension reflects how visual cues, often override nuance, revealing society’s impulse to assign gender where ambiguity exists. The wound on the fish's head (a real break that occurred during the process of construction reinterpreted as apart of concept) speaks to the psychological toll of performative femininity, the expectation to remain beautiful, even whilst wounded. As a queer artist, I created Submerged to highlight the ridiculousness of gendered expectations and the social norms that pressure us to conform. By merging the organic with the artificial, the work challenges viewers to examine how identity is read, misread, and imposed. My work is is both a examination and a provocation, inviting reflection on what it means to exist authentically in a world that demands simplicity Mickey Randall