Beyond trans* medicalisation: hapticality and the art of crafting trans*masculine identities in Ali Smith's (2014).

The past decade has witnessed an unprecedented rise in trans* representation in literature, with works of fictions that go from critically acclaimed best sellers like Torrey Peters' (2021) to Booker-Prize winner postcolonial-centred study of non-binary characters in Bernardine Evaristo's (2019). In this blossoming context of exploring trans* voices, Ali Smith's (2014) breaks the mould in its defiance of traditional representations of transivity, usually grounded on medico-legal discourses. Following the precept of transnormativity as well as the theories of hapticality of Jeanne Vaccaro and Laura Marks, which respectively explore the possibilities of trans* identity perceived as a collective process of crafting and the potential found in a haptical approach to the visual, I hereby discuss Smith's representation of transmasculine identity outside the regime of medicine. Pivoting around Smith's conceptualisation of 'the painter self', an original reinterpretation of trans identity as expressed and crafted through the arts and the feeling of touch, I offer an analysis of the continual process of becoming of trans* Renaissance character Francescho del Cossa. Moreover, I offer analyses on the impact others may have on one's own trans* identity, with an interest on the trans* joy that comes from acceptance and on the role of arts to outgrow the pain that comes from rejection. Finally, I examine the role of the visual in the artistic representation of transivity, where Smith defies the limits of time, portraying trans* identity as the true never-ending process.