Claye Bowler 'Measured Transition 2016-2021'

For Yorkshire Sculpture International in Summer 2021, the Henry Moore Institute worked with Claye Bowler for his performance ‘Measure Transition 2016-2021’. I had the pleasure of working with Claye and documenting his performance.

The performance was the culmination of a five-year durational performance around the subject of top surgery, which began with Bowler shaving his head after first going to his GP to ask to be referred to an NHS gender identity clinic (GIC) in 2016. He has grown his hair since that first appointment to visually depict the wait it takes to get surgery within UK healthcare. He then stopped dying his hair once he was in the hands of a private GIC to further show the contrast in waiting times.

The filmed performance marked the end of Bowler’s wait: four years, nine months and three days. He used a surgical scalpel, the same kind as the one used in the surgery, to methodically cut off his hair whilst an audio of questions asked within the gender clinic was played into the room.