Transcript
As spoken by Lex Tan

This transcript is drawn from an audio recording. It has been lightly edited for clarity and readability while preserving the participant’s original voice and meaning.

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Hello, I'm Lex Tan, and my pronouns are they/them, and I'm non-binary. I've always been thankful to be part of Studio A.

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Studio A was a challenge, and Studio A offered to choose me and nominate me to be part of Studio A. I love Studio A very much because there are a lot of hardcore challenges, and because people are very friendly, polite, kind, well-mannered, and professional. Being famous makes me feel more like a star.

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I'm into visual arts and graphic design, which is more than mixed media. I feel that mixed media, painting, sketching, and drawing help me calm myself down, makes me not get nervous, and not get hesitant. I feel this has made me better.

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My landscape housings were what I designed most of the time. I did a lot of paintings of Australian houses. Australian houses were a little bit difficult, but I think most of the houses I challenged myself with were mostly American dream houses.

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Well, the reason why I'm non-binary since 2022 is that I found out that I was a they/them, not he/him. And when I try to correct people who are discriminating against or disrespecting my pronouns, it makes me kind of hurt and makes me feel disrespected, and it makes my feelings hurt. I think they just don't understand the meaning of people who are non-binary.

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I do admit that I have an intellectual disability. I am diagnosed with delusional meningitis disorder, which means I suffer panic, anxiety, and depression attacks, and I usually have a nervous breakdown and a meltdown when I get pretty upset, pretty angry, and confused.

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I think my gender identity helps people understand that I am not a sir, I am not a man, and I'm not a he/him. I was never born a man because I was on my left or my right. I'm half man, half woman. Sometimes I act more like a man, sometimes I act more like a woman. Sometimes I don't know what my gender identity is.

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So my pronouns, I found out about them from the social group called PrideAbility Social from Participate Australia. I found out that I was they/them, and then I had to correct everyone that I was they/them.

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I just love being a rainbow person. I'm more of a technology, technical, technicolor person most of the time, and being a technology technicolor person makes me shine in my true colours.

 

At first, when I started drawing my own paintings, I used to draw in black and white, or maybe draw people in black and white with no technicolor or colouring. And when I found out everyone needs colour, I just said, "I might as well draw colour instead."