Fox dives into their various works, artistic challenges, and avoiding pigeon-holing.
Fox Fisher (they/he) has been an outspoken trans activist for the last few years. When asked about the challenges of being an artist, Fox said, ‘I think the biggest challenge, as someone from the LGBTQIA+ community, is whether to make my art visibly ‘trans’ or LGBTQIA+ related’. They said that the pressure to focus on creating LGBTQIA+ themed art can feel like it ‘pigeon holes and stifles creativity.’
Fox went on to say, ‘I feel like my trans and queer themed art is often fairly basic, like hand-drawing ‘trans rights are human rights’ and screen printing that onto book pages from J.K. Rowling books’. Fox went on to point out their collection of hardback Harry Potter books that he had illustrated which had been donated by trans Harry Potter fans who had drifted away from the series after J.K. Rowling’s controversies surrounding transphobia.
Fox has co-created the children’s book ‘Are You A Boy or Are You A Girl?’, the ‘Trans Survival Workbook’ as well as created the ‘Trans Pride Colouring Book’. On the topic of representation in what is being published on the shelves, Fox remarked on how there were not many trans or diverse books when he first started five or so years ago. He said, ‘All the books I have created are ones I wish had existed when I was growing up, which may have helped me come out sooner’. They went on to say, ‘There’s still scope for so many more trans positive books, for all ages’.
