\u201c<\/span>As a child, I remember there was a time when I thought having super-powers was a possibility. Even now in my adulthood (a term I use lightly), I occasionally find myself in a moment of pure laziness, attempting to levitate my iPhone telekinetically, still holding out hope that imagination can in fact cross over into my reality<\/span><\/i>.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n During childhood we\u2019re told<\/p>\n super-heroes do not exist<\/span><\/p>\n no one is special, magic isn\u2019t real<\/span><\/p>\n (gender is binary) <\/span><\/p>\n Mutants are just made up characters on a page.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Growing up queer<\/span><\/p>\n we began to see a mirror image<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0ourselves <\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0inside the characters.<\/span><\/p>\n Because we too <\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0felt different. <\/span><\/p>\n We understood reality as presenting <\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0an alter ego. <\/span><\/p>\n We understood queerness made others uncomfortable, <\/span><\/p>\n so like our mythical heroes,<\/span><\/p>\n we wore costumes <\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0and hid,<\/span><\/p>\n waiting<\/span><\/p>\n beneath the radar. <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Today, these stories that helped write us<\/span><\/p>\n are being re-written <\/span><\/p>\n in real life. <\/span><\/p>\n New identities are constantly being created<\/span><\/p>\n and explored <\/span><\/p>\n publicly, <\/span><\/p>\n for the world to see. <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Like the Mutants of the stories we grew up with,<\/span><\/p>\n there are those of us <\/span><\/p>\n who cannot hide from the world any longer. <\/span><\/p>\n There are those who no longer seek assimilation, <\/span><\/p>\n but rather, <\/span><\/p>\n radical individualization. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n These are the Morlocks: <\/span><\/p>\n mutants once forced to live underground<\/span><\/p>\n in fear of the outside world.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n No longer do they hide,<\/span><\/p>\n no longer are they powerless.<\/span><\/p>\n Instead <\/span><\/p>\n they have created a voice<\/span><\/p>\n a place<\/span><\/p>\n a platform,<\/span><\/p>\n for themselves<\/span><\/p>\n and those alike.<\/span><\/p>\n With the expression of truest self, <\/span><\/p>\n and the exploration of genetic magic, <\/span><\/p>\n they are each working <\/span><\/p>\n to shape the world around them<\/span><\/p>\n into something <\/span><\/p>\n that holds space<\/span><\/p>\n for all of us, <\/span><\/p>\n not just a select few.<\/span><\/p>\n Reminding us that<\/span><\/p>\n We are all super humans<\/span><\/p>\n and all is simply<\/span><\/p>\n matter of perception.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Haize wears kia top by Ytinifninfinity, harness by NAC Equipment, foam electirical wire leggings by RHLS, and platforms by LACTIC<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n My art is my obsession and gives me the ability to create mythological\/fantastical narratives, bodies, and worlds in my head while allowing them to manifest in reality.<\/p>\n Absolutely. Most of my work is about my trans identity but I often skew \u201ctrans\u201d away from transgender and make it about feeling trans human, trans mutative, transcendent, etc. My queerness\/body and my art are linked because I don\u2019t differentiate my creative process in how it applies to creating myself (transitioning) from how I make my work, it\u2019s all informed by the need to embody or create something that I know doesn\u2019t already exist for me. I often times refer to myself as a monster and what I mean by that is yeah, my body is almost always creating some sort of chaos when I\u2019m out in the world because I\u2019m really tall, black, and visibly trans. I have a 5 foot braid hanging from the back of my head that looks like a tail, so people are either really repulsed by my appearance or really attracted to it. I\u2019m monstrous also in the sense that I often experience a lot of isolation in the social and creative circles that I\u2019m a part of and so I have to create my own world\/body to live in via my imagination and I project all of that into the real.<\/span><\/p>\n My dissatisfaction with the paradigms that exist for a black trans femme like myself to exist in. if it\u2019s not here then you need to create it for yourself in the most honest way possible because no one else can or will.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ben wears sliced pink neoprene top, shorts, and belts by Sext Pixels, h<\/span><\/em>arness by NAC Equipment<\/em> <\/span><\/p>\n I feel like it is a thing that just kind of grows, like if you were to grow another leg or another arm or wings or you get louder…you grow another eyeball. I don\u2019t know, so in that sense my art is \u2026growth expression.<\/p>\n I think it depends on the project, but generally speaking, usually when I\u2019m making something I have to make it to get to the next day or the next week or the next stage in my life because it\u2019s something inside that\u2026is like eating. I couldn\u2019t live unless I had something to eat; I have to create in order to be, to breathe; it\u2019s something that grows and will overtake me until I acknowledge or address it, so there\u2019s nothing else I can do until I take care of that urge.<\/p>\n Yes, of course. I think naturally it\u2019s an obvious influence in my work because it\u2019s a part of me, a giant part of me, and it\u2019s something that I\u2019m very proud of. I think it\u2019s cool that I naturally feel this way, or that I was in a way, given this.<\/p>\n Totally. I want to plug it in, charge it, make it bigger, stronger, and louder. I think the queer artists that have come before me, especially in New York, have helped shape me. If I hadn\u2019t read their books or seen the things that they did, I wouldn\u2019t be able to do what I do. So in a way I feel like I\u2019ve been passed the torch, and I\u2019m glad I got it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Wallace wears cropped jacket from the Styled by Phil archive, vest and pants by Whatever 21, drip bracelet by I Still Love You NYC, and shoes by SAGA NYC <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n My medium is performance and that manifests in many different ways. I\u2019m in a rap group called Banjee Report, I do solo work under the moniker Mister Wallace, and I just started DJing as well. I view DJing as a form of performance. I like to have a narrative and dance and move behind the decks, but it\u2019s also about bringing in certain sounds and telling a story with those sounds that actually involves making the people move as part of the performance.<\/p>\n My biggest inspiration is myself (laughs) but like really my story. So growing up I felt ugly, I felt unloved, unwanted, wrong. I grew up in a Christian household, so ideas of being queer and things like that were very negatively reinforced. I didn\u2019t like my body; I didn\u2019t feel masculine, I felt very skinny and frail, like girls or weak, or that\u2019s what I was taught that looked like\u2026 and so my inspiration is to tell a new narrative – that being feminine or being skinny is actually a form of power and it should be empowering not only to women, but really to anyone. So that\u2019s what inspires me to tell my story and to create art because I want kids growing up to be able to identify with that idea and be strong and be excited.<\/p>\n Oh yeah, when I was a kid I always knew I had powers. And everyday I\u2019m just trying to figure out how to use them and how to make them stronger.<\/p>\n Really I love villains because I feel like a lot of them are misunderstood and then those misunderstandings kind of get inbred and that\u2019s why they go down this dark path. I mean, that\u2019s the whole thing with the Morlocks…they\u2019re viewed as bad guys, but they\u2019re really not. They are just misunderstood and different.<\/p>\n Yeah, I mean queerness is vilified in a lot of ways. Growing up, all of the movies with the flamboyant gay black man, my cousins would always be like, \u201cOh, that\u2019s you,\u201d and I always felt bad about that, like \u201cI don\u2019t want to be like that villain.\u201d But then, at the end of the day, I realized as I grew older that it was bad to not want to be something that is actually similar to what you really are. I realized I had to embrace that behavior and embrace my differences, so that other people could learn to embrace them as well. That\u2019s also why I really love villains, especially the ones who are in your face because they\u2019re just saying, \u201cThis is me, this is who I am.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Untitled wears jumpsuit, vest, and pants by SAGA NYC, biforamen by TILLYandWILLIAM, and model’s own shoes<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n My art has always been some form of sad magic. Summoning a mix of the unexpected, the poetic, the stupid, and a rainbow of colors.<\/p>\n Tommy.<\/p>\n Tommy’s power is the ability to transform her body into a 2-dimensional plane to the point of becoming as thin as paper. This ability is very similar to Untitled Queen as a type of art object that moves fluidly between drawing, sculpture, and performance. I think coincidentally her story would be the exact version of me if I was made into a comic book character: a pastel rainbow of hair and skin, ability to stand out and shrink invisibly, and dead within one issue.<\/span><\/p>\n There’s something in here about wanting to tell a story and in my own way. Sometimes I know I’ve put the wrong colors together, but I’m comforted in my ownership of the ugly pairings, because it is mine. And I’ve been fascinated by that Native American idea of a photograph stealing a part of your soul, because I sort of run the opposite way. I’m splicing it up and emptying it out every chance I get. <\/span><\/p>\n Logan wears stylist’s own hat and shoes, crop top and bomber by Ytinifninfinity, briefs by 2(X)IST, and jeggings by Whatever 21<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n I’m a doctor and I spend a lot of time talking to people and developing intimate relationships with strangers. I’m also trans and queer, which I consider to be a superpower. <\/span><\/p>\n I’m conflicted about Leech. I like that he is a Morlock, an outcast among outcasts and that he is so resilient. Somehow he always manages to escape capture and he survives the Morlock killings. He is small and childlike and I think often underestimated. I can relate to that. <\/span><\/p>\n I don’t identify with Leech’s power. Leech\u2019s power of negating other mutants\u2019 abilities feels like the opposite of who I aspire to be and the spaces I desire to build and be a part of.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Third wears stylist’s own eyepatch, chaptop and sleeves by TILLYandWILLIAM, leather bustier by J. Papa, lingerie and whip from the Styled by Phil archive, pants by DAIMORF, and model’s own shoes<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n I make gender neutral clothes.<\/span><\/p>\n Yes \u2013 my process parallels the goal: to destabilize notions of clothing that are gendered and historicized. The premise of gender neutral is to honor all points of the spectrum. The promise of reinventing fashion is to realize clothing and style as in between, never puristic and always queer.<\/span><\/p>\n What drives you to create?<\/b><\/p>\n
\nPhotography: Ariele Max |\u00a0Creative Direction: Giancarlo Corbacho |\u00a0Production Assistants: Tiffany Pilgrim, Brian Whatever, Ursula Mann<\/h5>\n
\nAurel Haize Odogbo || Marrow<\/b><\/h1>\n
![](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/marrow-a.jpg?resize=1328%2C2000\")
<\/p>\nWhat is your power?<\/b><\/h4>\n
Do you feel that your power is informed by your queerness (i.e. identity, sexual identity, gender identity) or those who you surround yourself with?<\/b><\/h4>\n
What drives you to create?<\/b><\/h4>\n
\nBen Ross Davis \/ Night Helix || Caliban<\/b><\/h1>\n
![\"caliban](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/caliban-a.jpg?resize=1328%2C2000\")
<\/p>\nWhat is your power?<\/b><\/h4>\n
What drives you to create? <\/b><\/h4>\n
Do you feel your power is informed by your queerness?<\/b><\/h4>\n
Does it feel like a superpower?<\/b><\/h4>\n
\nMister Wallace || Tar Baby <\/b><\/h1>\n
![\"tarbaby](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/tarbaby-b.jpg?resize=2000%2C1328\")
<\/p>\nWhat is your power?<\/b><\/h4>\n
When you are creating or writing what do you feel drives you to create?<\/b><\/h4>\n
And so wouldn\u2019t you say in some way that you are a superhero?<\/b><\/h4>\n
Were there any superheroes you identified with as a kid? <\/b><\/h4>\n
Don\u2019t you feel like that is in a way a symbol of queerness? This idea of being misunderstood?<\/b><\/h4>\n
\nUntitled Queen || Tommy<\/b><\/h1>\n
![\"tommy](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/tommy-a.jpg?resize=2000%2C1328\")
<\/p>\nWhat is your power? <\/b><\/h4>\n
What Morlock are you representing?<\/b><\/h4>\n
Have you thought about any connection you might have to this character?<\/b><\/h4>\n
What drives you to create? <\/b><\/h4>\n
\nLogan Jardine || Leech<\/b><\/h1>\n
![\"leech](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/leech-a.jpg?resize=2000%2C1328\")
<\/p>\nWhat is your power?<\/b><\/h4>\n
Do you identify with the character you\u2019re representing?<\/b><\/h4>\n
\nThird || Callisto<\/b><\/h1>\n
![\"callisto](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/posturemag.com\/online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/callisto-a.jpg?resize=2000%2C1328\")
<\/p>\nWhat is your power?<\/b><\/h4>\n
Do you feel that your power is informed by your queerness (i.e. identity,\u00a0<\/b>sexual identity, gender identity) or those who you surround yourself\u00a0<\/b>with?<\/b><\/h4>\n