SIN'S SKINS

The first openly non-binary individual artist to be nominated for the coveted Turner Prize, Sin Wai Kin tells Tatler why we need multiple narratives to coexist and fluidity to thrive

- Aaina Bhargava

Victoria Sin came to life making a sandwich in a London drag club. Artist Sin Wai Kin’s first performance as what would become one of their best-known characters entailed wearing a sparkling, glamorous evening gown, blonde wig and dramatic make-up while putting a filling between slices of bread. In performing a seemingly banal task with exaggerated and comedic gestures, Sin subverted expectations of femininity and ideas about female labour. Says the artist of their first work, Sandwich (2015), “It was a take on that insult to women when a man might say, ‘Shut up and go make me a sandwich!’”

Sin was and is interested in exploring how we are conditioned to perform and comprehend societal roles, whether they be related to gender or culture, and in exposing the false binaries inherent in them. Their natural inclination towards performance is inherent in both the conception and execution of their work; they primarily create narrative-driven films, which they enact by assuming the role of one or multiple characters. Less frequently, they make sculptures or smaller works that retain remnants of their characters, such as wipes featuring marks from their heavy make-up, enclosed in glass. For each character Sin inhabits, they dress up in drag, reflecting the art form’s ability to showcase fluidity: with drag, an individual can assume as many identities as they want, and contain multitudes.