Talk #71

Chester Tenneson

Chester Tenneson was born in Liverpool, England, in 1980. He studied at Manchester School of Art between 1998 - 2004, gaining an MA in Fine Art in 2004. He currently lives and works in Manchester, England and is based at Rogue Artists’ Studios. Chester is also a Lecturer in Fine Art and researcher, focusing on LGBTQIA+ representation in the arts. Chester’s work explores the absurdity within the norms of institutional design and authority, examining the idiosyncratic nature of commonplace objects and language. His position as a transgender man is important; his artworks frequently reflect his experience as an outsider from everyday norms and language, which have a cisgender base. His artworks question the absurdity of these everyday norms, playing with gendered gestures and objects, as well as more general rules and instructions which command our everyday experience and public placing. Chester works across different media including sculpture, print and performance. His performance work is in collaboration with artist Laura Weaver. Part of the Bunker x Holden Talks series held in Autumn 2021.