#tchiang

[chtinang-blog]

Noah’s Ark is a data visualization piece representing 8 questions asked to the queer community that is closeted within their religious space. Each stable holds animals, each a unique embodiment of one of following questions:

What religion do you follow?

Do you feel scared?

Do you believe your religious community would accept you for you are if you came out?

Are you out of the closet in non-religious spaces?

Do you feel alone?

How do you identify sexually?

Do you believe being queer is against your religion?

Would you ever come out of the closet?

This piece is inspired by the queer community who have struggled with their sexual identity due to their religious community and religious texts, including my own.

The animals are 3D printed to their respective percentages, and the boat was designed using Adobe Illustrator, then laser cut on birch wood, then glued together. Surrounding the animals is Easter grass.

This questionnaire was posted on my personal Facebook account, in school groups on Facebook, as well as various queer community subreddits. These results are sourced from 127 responses.

Photo Credits: https://www.instagram.com/raivisuals/

More details:

This project attempts to answer a few questions that I had as a teen and still have as a young adult. A very close friend of mine became the topic of my whole church community, because they had decided to change their name to something gender and race neutral, as well as the fact that they had not yet stated that they were non-binary, so when they were dating another woman, this was very taboo. I myself had known that I was not straight for a very long time, but I had never come out in the church because of my own mother’s strong religious beliefs. Many times I wondered who else was like me and my friend, and through this project I learned that I wasn’t alone.

The purpose of not putting the questions directly under each stable is essentially to hide the answer. All these questions will exist, but the answers might not always be clear or said. The ark represents a treasure trove of answers, with the double meaning of the Noah’s ark story consistent throughout many religious texts. Each stable holding animals, sort of creating a box. The tight, dark display overall is to express claustrophobia, something people may experience while in a physical closet.

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