We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Leif Lee a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Leif, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

The most meaningful project I have worked on in my art career has been my Gender Euphoria project. This project started from a place of feeling the opposite of this, which was experiencing gender dysphoria since childhood. Growing up I was often told that my interests were not appropriate for the sex I was assigned at birth, and I carried a lot of shame and confusion about this. I sometimes felt invisible to others, and instead a place for them to project their ideas of gender norms. As an artist I wanted to create something that spoke to a utopian idea of gender euphoria, and to spread the message to others who also needed to hear it. There is so much media coverage about the uncomfortable feeling of gender dysphoria and I wanted to change that. Exploring the concept of gender euphoria is empowering and powerful. Pulling from the sci-fi nostalgia of my childhood and drawing inspiration from the trans allegory film the Matrix I designed an image to express this. The image both embodies the possibility of gender euphoria and the raw presence of it when felt in the moment. For my first iteration of this project I wanted to call back to my younger self and create a garment that they would have loved to wear. I intentionally chose to use vintage crewneck sweatshirts to screen print the design on, and to use puff ink in the lettering. This ink choice was specifically chosen in order to both bring the Gender Euphoria text closer to the viewer and to bring back a commonly used printing technique in the 1980s. This project has since grown into a collection of Gender Euphoria stories in short form videos, t-shirts & tank tops made from recycled materials, holographic stickers, colorful tote bags and enamel pins. My hope is that this message spreads far and wide to all who need it.

Leif, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a queer non-binary trans person from Washington state. I have always enjoyed creating art, and as I child I was influenced by both of my grandmothers and mother who were fiber artists. I learned to sew form them and was inspired to learn embroidery. Due to extreme familial homophobia I no longer have a relationship with my family and creating textile art is a way that I find a connection with them. I attended the Evergreen State College in Olympia WA where I studied printmaking, drawing and sculpture. I was encouraged by my art teachers there to go in the direction of art and apply for graduate studies. I moved to Oregon in 2012 to attend the Pacific Northwest College of Art where I received my MFA. My thesis investigated the concept of the Queer Landscape and its connection to hand crafts. It was there that I first created hand drawn fabrics that resisted the repeating elements found in printed textiles. After graduating my MFA program I embarked on my full time studio practice and a journey of creating my own business as an artist. I started out creating commissioned textiles, garments, and designs. I soon included the practice of creating one of a kind hand drawn t-shirts that I sold as one offs in my online shop. This grew to include yards of fabrics that I hand paint, cut and sew into one of a kind bags and accessories. These fabrics were also commissioned by larger corporations for commercial use. Our culture is saturated with fast fashion, mass produced printed fabric with repeating images, and our environment is negatively impacted by this. I offer people more sustainable options by creating small batches of garments, working with local screen printers that use water based inks, up cycling fabrics and repurposing them rather than creating more waste, and prioritizing printing projects with recycled fabrics that are generated with ethical supply chains. I am most proud of my commitment to sustainability wherever possible, expanding size options for more body shapes, and reducing waste in my industry. These are each very difficult to fund and sustain as a one person business. I am proud of the fact that I have been able to prioritize this on an extremely tight budget, and offer better options to my customers and clients.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

I think the best way that society can support artists and creatives is to understand that it is their support fuels the artist. Not corporations, not marketing firms, you. Individual people supporting artists are the lifeblood of the creative culture that surrounds you in your community. If more people understood that their actions of support towards artists was the cause for the beautiful culture around them I think they would be more empowered to show their support to artists directly. I don’t think most people realize that subscribing to an artist’s Patreon page, sharing a social media post with their followers, purchasing an inexpensive item from their store, tagging the artist when sharing their work, commenting that they like what they see, buying them coffee etc are all enormous supports for the artist. This type of support may seem small or insignificant but it is supportive communities like this that create a thriving creative ecosystem which benefits us all.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I have a vision where gender non-conforming people are sacred and all people are freely expressing their authentic style.

Contact Info:

• Website: leifjlee.com
• Instagram: @leifjlee
• Other: TikTok: @leifjlee

Image Credits
photographer: Jamie Thrower