Hortensia Mi Kafchin Challenges a Singular Trans Identity

The art review in question explores Hortensia Mi Kafchin’s exhibition “Paintings Made for Aliens Above” at PPOW Gallery. The artist, who hails from Romania and resides in Berlin, utilizes diverse representational strategies, ranging from pastoral and surreal to technofuturistic imagery, all while employing trans subjectivity as a metaphor for transhuman ideals. Through pieces like “Dobrogean National Costume” and “Cosmic scale of dysphoria,” Kafchin subverts traditional gender norms and challenges predominating conventions of trans representation. Her work marries elements of personal history and broader human narratives to envision a collective human potential. Kafchin’s painted figures, embodying a range of non-binary forms, explore transness as an aspect of human identity while offering an inclusive vision of the transhuman experience. The exhibition is on display through December 20.