About

 

Claye Bowler (B.1995) lives and works in London and West Yorkshire. 

His work explores the archive - the body as an archive, hoarding as archiving, and looking at the political priorities of history. He is interested in how queer and trans narratives specifically have been perpetually hidden, erased or destroyed. 

Bowler uses sculpture and performance to subvert these practices in his own practice as well as creating space to showcase and support other queer and trans artists.

 

More recently, Bowler’s work has focused around the physical transition of his body: the lead up to surgeries and the violence of the (stalled) wait involved under the diminished funding and care of the NHS.

 

Claye has a strong connection to sound and music, this is used throughout his performance work, experimentation with his voice and field recordings as well as in traditional folk singing. He was a Young Curators for Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival 2020/21 and was the founder and Musical Director of Yorkshire Trans Choir.

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He uses he/him pronouns only.