ARTS FEATURE
“At the heart of my art, I want people to feel like they belong,” Gray says. “I want to normalize different types of bodies and people.” The poised, indomitable figure in “12 Limbs” is different from most characters depicted in fine art, comics and movies. She bears a striking resemblance to the artist, as do the subjects of many of Gray’s Transgender artist Lena works. But she says the figures are not her. Gray creates empowering “Each character is modeled after me, but I don’t imagery think of them as myself,” Gray offers. “I like using my own face and body because it helps me stay grounded.” BY PAT MORAN Like several of the characters in her art, the woman in “12 Limbs” is a divine symbol of healing, Perched on a grassy outcrop surrounded by Gray says. “A lot of art representing marginalized stone, the young woman is breaking free. Captured people tends to focus on trauma, but it’s also in mid-action, she’s busting out of her old body, important to depict liberation.” shedding, shattering and shaking off 10 limbs that are no longer needed. Crumbling arms that seem to Art imitates life, life is art be carved from granite arc through the air. Perhaps Now 34 years old, Gray grew up in Blacksburg, she’s sloughing off the cycle of creation and carnage Virginia. When she was still a baby, her family moved embodied by the many-limbed Kali, or maybe she’s to Newport News, located at the mouth of the James emerging like a butterfly from a cocoon. She looks River feeding into Chesapeake Bay. To all outward up, but it’s hard to read her emotions. She is open, appearances, Gary was a cis male child, youngest of questioning and peaceful, but not quite serene. She four brothers. Even then, however, she felt different may be divine. from her friends without understanding why. The woman is the focus of “12 Limbs,” a digital At this time, art also entered Gray’s life. She painting created by Charlotte-based artist and cites comic books and her mother as key influences in the development of her approach to character, composition and subject matter. Of the two, the influence of Gray’s mother, Nikki, has been most profound. A sculptor and painter in her own right, Nikki created art to empower marginalized people. “My mother taught me the value of finding beauty within ourselves and expressing it,” Gray remembers. When she moved with her family to Tallahassee, Florida, at age 8, Gray found that her art and identity became inextricably entwined. She wanted to see imagery of people like herself. Later, when people looked at her art and started to identify with her goals, Gray grasped the importance of being herself — but that revelation lay in the future. In the meantime, she explored other creative avenues in addition to drawing and painting. Gray began to write stories in which she imagined herself as a different person. At Lawton Chiles High School in Tallahassee, LENA GRAY AT WORK PHOTO BY LENA GRAY Gray took a class that showed her how to create images in Photoshop. This sparked an interest in musician Lena Gray, who identifies as Black, trans creating digital graphics. After graduating high and feminine. Gray has been making art for as long school, Gray attended Radford University in Radford, as she can remember, but three years ago she started Virginia, where she earned a degree in graphic arts. drawing on her skills as a graphic designer to create Although Gray ultimately decided that graphic digital art that provides empowering images of design was not her desired path, she has freelanced trans people of color — depictions that are so often in the past, creating designs for an array of clients absent in popular media.
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GRAY’S ANATOMY
A DIGITAL PAINTING TITLED “PRECEPTOR.” ARTWORK BY LENA GRAY
including Richmond-based market Ellwood Thompson; Carrboro tattoo and piercing shop Naiad Craftworks; and Astral Well, a monthly installment of guided meditations featuring astrology and tarot. Ten years ago, Gray also started playing guitar. At that time, music was not a serious vocation, she recalls. Like her art, it was a private pastime. Both art and music became tools for processing her anxiety, which subsided slightly in 2013, when she made her first trans friend. “We weren’t close, but just being around him gave me a lot of perspective,” Gray says. Through mutual friends, she became aware of other people starting to come out as trans. Gray also began to feel drawn to Charlotte. She started visiting one of her older brothers who lives in the Queen City. One trip she remembers vividly included a stop at The Milestone Club to see Xiu Xiu, then her favorite band, play a gig supporting their 2008 album Women as Lovers. Meeting other trans people prompted Gray to transition in 2016. “My parents didn’t know what to think at first,” Gray says, noting that a lot of her parents’ fears stemmed from concerns for their daughter’s safety. “They didn’t want me to be in danger. That was their main motivation for wanting to discourage me. They didn’t realize it wasn’t a choice.” Gray came out as trans in 2017 and moved to Charlotte that same year. Today, she says she enjoys the full support of her family.
Transgender saints
Once ensconced in Charlotte, Gray delved back into music-making. She began experimenting with a looper pedal that allowed her to layer melodies on top of one another. Gray started playing ambient music as a nightly ritual to help soothe her anxiety. She also continued to pursue digital painting in private. Soon, her art would go public. “I started sharing my art three years ago,” Gray remembers. “I had a table with some of my prints at a small event that a lot of people came to.” Some trans customers came to the table and purchased some pieces. Gray was excited to find buyers, but even happier to connect with so many trans people. Once something she needed to do for herself to explore and express feelings that enabled her to deal with her gender transition, Gray’s art became something far bigger. Her works became an avenue of representation, not just for herself but for other trans people. She realized that voices like hers were not being heard. Gray began exhibiting in 2019. That year, her art was featured in local shows including Born This Way at Canvas Tattoo and Trans Day of Remembrance events. In 2020, she showed work at Girls Rock Charlotte’s Femme at Five event, Goodyear Arts’ Hilites Fest II, Charlotte Pride Spring Spotlight and more. In May 2021, Gray contributed a piece to Match Studio Collaborative’s Advocacy as Art show. The artwork
