A Refuge for the Species Starts Here

By Aubs Decker

This collage-poem piece was made fully from cutouts of National Geographic magazines. Underneath it, not visible, is a biosynthesis pathway I drew going from cholesterol to testosterone, the hormone replacement therapy that I use and the original focus for this art piece. The second day I was coming back to it was the day the government scrubbed their web pages of any references to trans and intersex people. Hit with that sadness, I suddenly instead craved collecting visuals of life and bright colors, so I hastily cut and ripped out vibrant images of plants, sea life and humans being gentle with nature from some Nat Geo magazines. The words and phrases were spliced out of Nat Geo headlines and they shout over the erased hormone synthesis pathway hidden underneath, emphasizing that life and humanity endure because we adapt and we fight to live.

Aubs (they/them) is a biological sciences PhD candidate studying regulated cell death in cancer and they love to make art with/for friends in their free time.