existential boner (2022-2024)

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existential boner is a personal work exploring obsessions related to the body, identity, and sexuality. Published as a book by SPBH and ECAL in July 2023, it also exists as an installation.

taje is a trans person identifying as non-binary, they began gender-affirming hormone therapy in November 2020, marking the start of an intense process of self-documentation. Every transformation was closely monitored, driven by an urge to reclaim their body and sense of self. Photography became the most immediate tool to record these changes, following the relentless rhythm of their obsessive thoughts.

Through a compilation of images and texts—including collages, vernacular photography, studio shoots, snapshots, and scans—their body of work developed in parallel with their physical and psychological changes. It emphasizes the urgency of emotions and experiences, ultimately constructing a narrative that offers representation where it was once absent.

Inspired by artists such as Helena Almeida, Francesca Woodman, Pierre Molinier, Cindy Sherman, and many others, taje draw from a lineage of practices and influences that challenge the limits of photography.  

This is a selection of images from the book.

#NoWhereToGo extends reflections on taje's past work and its connection to censorship. Having previously been a porn performer and filmmaker, they co-founded the collective Oil Productions in 2018. This project engages with the increasing restrictions on sex-positive content online.

Since 2019, content moderation policies on platforms like Instagram, Twitter (X), and TikTok have intensified, disproportionately affecting sex workers—particularly women* and non-cis-male creators. While these platforms claim to promote "safe" content, far-right radical groups and fascism continue to thrive, exposing the contradictions within these systems.

Posting certain images becomes an act of resistance. Through the account @xesx.esxes, they attempt to bypass algorithms by altering content so that explicit elements remain perceptible only to the human eye. Despite these efforts, the account has limited visibility and is already shadow banned, accessible only by searching its exact name.

unapologetically sorry is a video performance exploring identity, self-doubt, and desire. AI models were trained on archival and intimate images to add animated and organic layers, disrupting the boundaries between memory and transformation.

Developed within the Master in Photography at ECAL, Clouds 2024 imagines a speculative future in 2040. A vision unfolding in an alternate space-time, where the physical laws known today no longer apply.

New materials emerge—self-regenerating, reactive to the dimensions they inhabit—offering a glimpse into an environment that redefines the relationship between matter and space.

no tears, just dreams was created during taje's first semester at ECAL, inspired by Donna Haraway’s sentence "Make kin, not babies."

The series consists of approximately 200 images, each following the same process: a snapshot of an everyday moment is printed, a laconic journal excerpt is inscribed onto the image, and the modified print is scanned, returning it to the digital realm.

Their visual approach shifts between color, form, and memory, layering associations that speak to survival mechanisms. The work explores daily struggles from different social and cultural perspectives, centering on the queer experience.

Queerness, often commodified as a trend within privileged heteronormative spaces, remains a contested identity. While celebrated in some circles, it is still perceived as deviant by others, with hate and discrimination persisting worldwide. For queer-trans individuals, navigating this reality involves both confrontation and resilience.

This scrapbook is an exploration of identity—an ongoing confrontation with past and present selves. Rather than following a traditional narrative, it unfolds in fragments, embracing the fluidity of human existence.

The work interrogates gender as a social construct and a performed identity, following Judith Butler’s theories on gender performativity, and is informed by their lifelong engagement with the negotiation of gender roles. Structured like a diary, it incorporates over a decade of journal writing, creating a space for reflection and self-exploration.

Inspired by Donna Haraway’s concept of string-figures, the project allows for constant re-contextualization, weaving together diverse perspectives. The collage technique mirrors the complexity of human experience—fluid, contradictory, and in perpetual transformation.

Echoing The Separatist Manifesto, the work also addresses the ways in which oppressive structures are re-coded and resisted. It reclaims desire and identity in defiance of the systems that seek to constrain them.