Week 9: Transformation Tuesday

I had no idea that today I would be hearing powerful words from a transgender artist, Rebecca Kling. Sometimes it amazes me how little I seem to know about the complexities of human beings, but I am grateful to have these opportunities to expand my knowledge. Kling gave a spoken word perfomance called "Uncovering the Mirrors" - a sort of coming-of-age personal narrative that she wrote herself. It is full of stories and metaphors, humor and wit, pain and pleasure.

Kling is the kind of person that can tell a good story. There were no gimmicky props, costumes, or distractions - it was all about the words and the movement of her body. There were times when I felt like she was looking right at me, and for a moment I was terrified. And yet at the same time, I was in awe of her strong presence. She's just that good.

Although I would be lying if I said I understood all of her performance clearly, there were several parts that stood out for me. She painted this great picture in our heads of The Land of Gender - a place that was once vast and beautiful, wild and untamed. It was full of secrets and the unknown, where explorers would make ambitious treks in attempts to understand its landscape. The Land of Gender refused to be defined, until one day an explorer named "He" arrived. He feared the unknown, and began to create a map that would "measure, manage, and master the Land of Gender once and for all." Instead of consulting other explorers for their unique perspectives on the land, He relied only on his own beliefs when mapping out the terrain. Ultimately, He was successful in mapping the landscape - but it only had two paths from which travelers could travel through. Both were very rigid and straight, and very much separate.      

I found these clever and evident metaphors fascinating. In fact, it provoked me to find more of Kling's writing online. You can read from her book, "No Gender Left Behind" right here: http://www.rebeccakling.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/No-Gender-Left-Behind-Rebecca-Kling-free-download.pdf

After the performance was over, time was left for questions of course. A decent amount of time was actually spent on this. A lot of times, it seems like only a few questions are asked by audience members. And even though the group wasn't that large, a valuable discussion began to take place. Kling was genuinely interested in our thoughts and curiosities, and was very honest in her responses.

For her, the "transitioning"process did not have a definitive starting point, nor has it ended. She rather sees herself as always having been "Rebecca," and believes that she would have committed suicide had she not taken the steps that brought her to where she is today.

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 Photo by Peter McCullough

Week 8: By the People, For the People

This week I chose to attend an exhibit called "From Protest to Peace," currently on display at the Spurlock Museum. Going into it, I knew that my familiarity with the subject matter - a tumultous time period in Northern Ireland known as "the Troubles"- was fairly limited. As far as my memory of Ireland's history goes, images of potatoes, great famines, and immigrants coming to the US are the only things that come to mind. So I was hoping to learn a thing or two after seeing this exhibit by the Bogside artists, three Irish painters who experienced "the Troubles" firsthand.

My lack of awareness was made visible from the very first sign that I viewed. It said, "You are now entering Free Derry." My gut reaction was to think of the word "dairy", and try to make some sort of correlation between it and the image which stood before me. Although I was initially stumped, it didn't take long to realize that Derry was an actually city in Ireland which held a lot of significance as far as the history of "the Troubles" goes. There were several informational hangings which described in detail the history of the land, the political unrest, the civil rights movement, the martyrs, the deaths of children...in some ways I expected to see these visual cues to aid the uninformed like myself, but at the same time I wasn't expecting to see how serious the matter was. Despite attending the exhibit and reading about the events though, I'm still afraid that the average viewer cannot grasp the history as well as the Bogside artists or actual Irish citizens themselves probably understand it. I certainly wouldn't call it a failed attempt either. What I personally failed to realize for some time was that the images that were placed together in this exhibit before me were simply smaller installation versions of the "real deal" - the gigantic painted murals which are actually located on buildings in Derry today. Understanding that was definitely a bit of a game changer for me. That's when it hit me that these weren't just some nice illustrations of troubled Irish people. I also realized that these things were happening around the same time when big changes were happening in America as well, such as our own civil rights movement. 
There was a small video playing in the very back of the room, and unfortunately it was difficult to hear the audio whenever others nearby in the Museum were talking. I thought it was a wise choice to have this non-static piece of information that was alive. I got to listen to the history from the perspective of the actual Bogside artists, and they helped cement the reminder that these events happened to real people, and that it was about the everyday people.
 I also thought it was great how local children were assimilated into the process by helping design and paint some of the murals, such as finale in the series, "The Peace Mural." This reminds me of how I've sometimes wished that the School of Art+Design would let us paint the walls of the building or even leave our mark on the exterior somehow. I think some of the best freedom of expression I've seen in the entire place was the restroom graffiti, and sadly that too is gone. I'm not saying that there is politically-charged history within our school property, but it doesn't seem like a bad idea to leave some inspiration for future generations.

Week 7: "The Year I Broke My Voice"

As a part of their Sex+Gender Film Series, the Women's Resources Center featured "The Year I Broke My Voice" by Madsen Minax. I had only read a short description of the film before attending, and the only thing I could recall was that it was supposed to have some sort of 'coming of age' theme.
*Spoiler alert*

The film itself is actually only 47 minutes, so it wasn't your typical Hollywood flick. In fact, most of the film was anything but Hollywood, at least content-wise. The majority of the film is comprised of long shots and carefully composed visuals, with peculiar sound effects and music overlaying some of the scenes. Okay, maybe it doesn't sound too different from every other movie but this one just seemed like it was on a different page altogether. If there is a predictable plot or traditional story line, it's not very obvious. Rather the emphasis is on the group of actors. We are presented with multiple young characters, some of whom remain unnamed throughout the film. The age and gender of each individual is also fairly ambiguous, and that seems to be an essential theme overall.

 Many of the figures are boyishly handsome, but a few have very unique looks and voices. They are all youthful, yet they seem to carry a lot of weight on their shoulders in regards to acceptance, identity, sexuality, lust, and love. It was only after the viewing was over that I realized each scene of the film is inspired by or uses material from popular texts and films such as The Outsiders (1983), Stand By Me (1986), and The Year My Voice Broke (1987). 
What's interesting is that this film seems to create a truly desolate sort of environment, with a complete lack of adults or any concrete sense of the outside world. Amazingly enough, the director Madsen Minax was also present to watch the screening with us, and elaborate a little more on the film. Science fiction from the 50's and 60's has always been a driving thematic in his work, and this time he utilized the aforementioned coming-of-age films from the 1980s as his main sources.

I was somewhat surprised to find out that the actors in this were all friends of Minax's. Unlike your traditional movies, there wasn't much of a budget or rehearsal time. For some of the actors, the first time they had seen the scripts were on the day shooting began. Another challenge they faced was the fact that they were filming during the winter season. Clearly, this didn't stop the team from creating a strange little cinematic world. In order to appreciate the film, Minax said that the "willingness to go on a trip of random happenings" is key. I definitely agree with him there. This is one of those films that I feel like I would need to watch a few more times to really get some clarity; the ending left me puzzled. However, it successfully took me out out of Champaign and into this weird other place - that may not be as foreign as I originally thought.
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Passing through day into night, the film closes off in a nocturnal state of indeterminacy. Nothing is repaired or improved, at least not overtly, but characters have shared tentative affection with one another, and those risks have subtly shifted their social landscape. The film’s refusal to offer any easy answers leaves the audience pondering many of the questions the characters pose, long after they leave the bleak post-industrial landscape of the screen. 
-Matt Morris


  

Images: http://www.brokevoicefilm.com/stills.html