Steps in Between Spaces: A World Beyond Binary

By Paul Paraiso

If communities were novels, liminal spaces would be the ellipses — the quiet dots between sentences where the story lingers. Artist Jehu Sabado lives in those dots, painting the moments that don’t shout but still change everything: a shared glance, a pause on a park bench, a street corner where strangers decide to stay a little longer.

We spoke with visual artist Jehu Sabado about their thesis project ‘Somewhere In-Between: Painting the Liminal Space of Becoming,’ exploring how they use thermal-inspired abstraction and liminal spaces to challenge rigid gender binaries and document the emotional landscapes of trans becoming.

Painting A Blank Canvas

Jehu never planned to make a manifesto. What began as a simple BFA Undergrad thesis, meant to carry personal meaning, soon turned into a journey inward. Living in the gap between society’s fixed ideas of gender, they found themselves drawn to that quiet, undefined space where rules don’t quite reach. Out of that space came Somewhere In-Between: Painting the Liminal Space of Becoming—portraits that speak not only to Jehu’s own story, but to anyone who has ever felt unseen. The series became a mirror for those navigating similar paths, a soft push against the need to label, and a celebration of the courage it takes to simply become yourself.

A Dialogue in Unfinished Hues

It began as a series of portraits, but it grew into something closer to a conversation. It asks what identity can look like when it is allowed to move, to shift, to resist being pinned down. Jehu doesn’t rely on the usual clues people are taught to read, clothes, hair, and body language. Instead, they blur those details, giving figures thermal-like colors and leaving parts of the work unfinished, as if the person is still taking shape. What started as a personal search turned into a shared space. They invited other trans person into the process, letting their stories shape the work. The portraits often sit in in-between places, such as a basketball court in a pedestrian lane, lobbies, train stations, or a bathtub in a hallway—spots where you might pause for a moment before moving on. 

“Ayoko mag-base sa visual signifiers ng society. We can express ourselves in infinite ways.”

Peeking Into A New Vantage Point

At first, they imagined Somewhere In-Between as a project with many different subjects. But when logistics got in the way, they chose to focus on just one. Even so, the work kept growing. Conversations with trans friends and peers began to seep into the process, shaping its heart and direction. “Nahirapan ako maghanap ng ibang trans models dahil sa time. Nahiya na rin ako mag-ask pero gusto kong ipakita na hindi lang ako ang may ganitong karanasan.” Jehu says. Through that lens, the series became more than a personal exploration. It turned into a collective story, a reminder that queer identity is built not only from within, but also through the people who walk alongside you.

The Nuance of Representation

Mx. Sabado pointed out that trans visibility is more complicated than people often think. Not all transgender people consider themselves non-binary, and not every non-binary, genderqueer, or gender-fluid person identifies as transgender, and that nuance matters. Through their art, Jehu works to expand the visual language of queer identity so that younger queer people can see themselves in more than just one image or archetype. 

"Visibility is for younger queer kids who need to see themselves. Queer and Trans representation creates space for exploration of identity and reminds us that who we are is real, valid, and worth celebrating."

Now, Jehu takes pride in helping widen that picture, so others can find pieces of themselves sooner and know they have always existed.

What’s Next?

After the whirlwind of finishing their thesis, Jehu is letting themself pause for a moment, though new ideas are already quietly forming. They picture painting people from their circles, reimagining those connections through a queer lens. 

“Mas connected ako sa subject kapag nagpi-paint ng actual person. Sa future, gusto kong mag-focus sa mga taong malapit sa akin—kahit hindi necessarily queer.”

For Jehu, queer art is not just about who is in the frame, but about the way the world is understood and felt. They’ve been thinking about pieces that explore intimacy, distance, and even hair as a marker of queer identity. For now, those ideas sit in the background, waiting for the moment they are ready to come to life.

"Queer art is broad. Pwede mong i-paint ang kahit ano, basta through a queer lens. It’s how I see, not just what I see."

Somewhere In-Between is more than just a series of paintings. It seems more like a set of moments in time in which lives interlink, where identities complement and amalgamate. To Jehu Sabado, the in-between is not a void but rather an expanse of relationships and potentials. The work requires you to pause and see, to recognize the slogans taken as given, and perhaps discard those neat categories with which you are innately familiar. It is, at heart, a meditation on identity as eternally mutable—never complete, never final—and influenced as much by the people who surround us and by the vessel into which we evolve.

All photographs by Axl de Mesa