Le Mat
Glistening with rhinestones, glitter and gold, Devan Shimoyama celebrates identity and sexuality in an extension of his Tarot series.
Le Mat, translating to The Fool, questions the ways in which gende...
Glistening with rhinestones, glitter and gold, Devan Shimoyama celebrates identity and sexuality in an extension of his Tarot series.
Le Mat, translating to The Fool, questions the ways in which gender can be ascertained through the lens of clothes, pattern, colour and demeanour. Though Le Mat is a self-portrait, his figures – or ‘deities’ – are often intentionally androgynous. Holding on tight to the heel of Le Mat is a cat-denom, a recognisable character from the manga series Inuyasha.
As well as manga, Shimoyama’s Tarot series draws from two other central sources of inspiration – his Baptist Christian upbringing and the popular Rider-Waite Smith tarot deck, creating a visual language with which to explore identity, race and sexuality. The use of silkscreen glitter inks, gold foil embossing and rhinestones creates a “dazzling illusion” in the same way that drag might on a performer’s body.