According to clinical research, two in every 100,000 people are “high intensity transsexuals,” meaning they will be motivated surgically to the opposite sex. Only one of our 23 chromosomes determines if we are female or male.

There are probably many in that 100,000 with less radical ends in mind, but also have a curiosity about the mystery of the “other” within them.

16th Phase - Waning: J. Edgar Hoover. 1994. 81 x 100 in. Oil & conte on wood. (top)

These portraits depict the splitting of individuals into their male and female identities. I refer to this transformation as “bisextioning”. The lunar drawings that separate and unite them are the place where a fluid interrelation occurs. The moon over water at night is the mysterious time and place to confront the unknown.

"In this series of paintings, Judy Jashinsky explores a transformative representation that mines the rich territory of gender and identity. While her approach to portraiture is anchored in tradition, her intent is to delve deeply into the mystery of who we are and how we represent ourselves to the outside world. By combining mirrored images of the same person (couched in essentially opposing personae) with a highly suggestive and mysterious landscape, she subtly equates the phases of the moon with personal transformation. Thus Jashinsky eloquently portrays the dual nature of human existence through an eerie metamorphosis that posits an interrupted narrative with a psychological twist."
- Terrie Sultan
Curator of Contemporary Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art