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[8] The Thesis

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The patron saint of my project is not a single person, but is instead a thesis. That thesis being, America is distinct (a word I use with a neutral  tone and without praise or asspersion) among similarly privileged and powerful nations. Its institutional idiosyncrasy, in realms social, political, governmental, religious, and economic ultimately shape culture and individual expressions of identity. I am by no means the first person to think about this and treat it as a sort of patron saint. Artists like Dorothea Lange, Pete Souza, Myles Loftin, Carrie Mea Weems, and William Klein, I believe, were and are working under this thesis of American oddity. Of these elders, Lange, someone whose career is so often compressed to one frame, is particularly sacrosanct. She photographed the impact that internment of American citizens of Japanese ancestry had during World War 2. This human rights violation passed through almost every governmental structure in the U.S. Executive order 906...
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[6] Regis and Kathie Lee

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Drag, as embodied through the work and life of RuPaul, posits a hyperreal formulation of gender. Interestingly, this hyperreal formulation is identical to the vision of gender many other artists, scholars, religious thinkers, and everyday people ascribe to. Judith Butler is one of the preeminent thinkers in the field of gender studies and gender philosophy. In her book Gender Trouble, she provides a definition of gender that is particularly useful in the context of RuPaul. She describes it as a performance — theatrical productions consist of scripts, actors, settings, rolls, costumes, and stage direction which are all facets, Butler rightfully points out, that are also present in the thing we call gender. RuPaul's primary artistic tool is formed in a Butlerian mold. He makes a show out of taking a given piece of gender performance and hyperfocusing on it. He heightens, say, the stage direction that forms the "feminine walk" — turning the normal  gendered sway of...
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Convocation Reflection

I don’t know if I like Alexandria Bell's work. She messes with text and newspapers to draw attention to how public narratives are constructed. However, she comes from a journalistic background, and I think it shows. Her edited New York Times covers don’t have a lot of visual interest – at least to my eyes – and to understand what she is doing, I think you have to read about her work or attend a lecture about it. If that’s the case, I don’t know why she wouldn't just cut out the middleman and write an essay. I know she said she's not super interested in doing that – she mentioned she doesn’t want to work at a paper, she isn’t a journalist, etc. – but to me, it feels like her critiques could be better expressed through straightforward writing. When she was still wheat pasting her images, I’m guessing they had a greater impact, and in the Q&A, she basically said as much. But I also recognize that it is a lot easier to feed yourself as an artist when you can frame and sell...
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