There’s no query of the artist’s power right here, or her want for it. The exhibition is known as for the Prince George, a backed housing advanced for individuals with HIV/AIDS the place Dzubilo lived from 2000 till her dying in 2011. Born in Connecticut in 1960, the artist grew to become a fixture in New York’s East Village artwork scene after shifting to the town in 1982, performing with the Blacklips Efficiency Cult and the band Transisters. After her AIDS analysis in 1987, she targeted on advocacy for HIV care and prevention and help for transgender individuals.
The Prince George Drawings facilities diaristic works on paper from 2008 to 2011 that narrate her life as a transgender girl dwelling with HIV. Some have drawings, others are purely textual content, however all have an intimate tone, as if Dzubilo is chatting with us instantly. She addresses each private obstacles, like bedbugs on the Prince George or her remedy by medical suppliers, and broader social points, such because the pathologizing and exploitation of trans ladies and the debilitating negative effects of HIV drugs.
Chloe Dzubilo, “Untitled (Stronger Than Life Itself)” (2008), ink on paper
It could appear that Dzubilo was making these drawings way back, however it was already greater than 20 years after the AIDS epidemic started to devastate queer communities in the US, inflicting politicians and common tradition to double down on homophobia and transphobia, and round 40 years after the Stonewall riots introduced LGBTQ+ civil rights to the streets. Dzubilo confronted challenges that ought to have been historical past by 2008, but persist immediately.
“The Most Inappropriate and Ridiculous Questions” (2008), a listing of “dont’s” to say to trans ladies, stands out exactly because of this. All you must do is watch TV, go on social media, or discuss to random individuals, and likelihood is you’ll hear a few of these feedback. I received’t repeat these which are blatantly offensive, however even apparently lesser offenses are insidious of their disrespect, corresponding to referring to individuals by their deadname and utilizing terminology like “passing,” which presupposes a normal of what constitutes a lady (or man).
Chloe Dzubilo, “The Most Inappropriate and Ridiculous Questions” (2008), ink on paper
As co-curator Nia Nottage suggests in an accompanying essay, the notion of “passing” has a double that means: the colloquial sense of showing to be cisgender or straight and passing as bodily wholesome. Each reinforce stigmas that depend on a baseline of normativity, and collectively, they expose the connection between bodily well being and gender- or sexual (hetero)normativity.
None of that is uncharted territory, however Dzubilo takes it on with distinctive readability and frankness. One cartoon-like drawing information an alternate in an emergency room between the artist and hospital employees who name her “it” and “freak” and refuse her use of the ladies’s rest room. The biggest work within the present, the 89-inch-tall (226 cm) “Untitled (Stop Pathologizing Me)” (2011), depicts a headless human physique sketched on yellow paper, with the title written on the prime. Alongside the determine is the textual content: “It’s 2011. Transsexualism in the DSM4 is still considered a mental illness.” (In reality, the Diagnostic and Statistical Guide of Psychological Issues solely eliminated “gender identity disorder” in 2017, changing it with “gender dysphoria.”)
Chloe Dzubilo, “Untitled (Emergency Care)” (2008), ink on paper
The drawings additionally allude to the ensuing suppression when individuals advocate for themselves somewhat than wait for presidency applications to advocate on their behalf. “Untitled (Fashionista on the Cross)” (2008) pairs a drawing of a human determine atop a crucifix with the textual content: “Sanctify the transperson. Fabulous. Then crucify them if they don’t cooperate with others’ agendas.” Implicit in this can be a critique of the systemic condemnation of those that don’t adjust to their society’s entrenched gender- and heteronormative roles, which performs out not solely in express discrimination but in addition in subpar dwelling circumstances and prohibitive healthcare prices. (Although the main target of the exhibition is AIDS medicine, the identical may be mentioned of a lot gender-affirming care, even with medical health insurance, then as now.)
Private voices make a distinction. Dzubilo’s accounts dissolve the space between life and artwork and current viewers along with her on a regular basis experiences of discrimination, disenfranchisement, and dwelling with a virus — confronting many with these realities, however commiserating with others. One good thing about internet hosting the present at a sympathetic nonprofit artwork area like Participant Inc. (whose board of administrators consists of pioneering LGBTQ+ artists Justin Vivian Bond and Vaginal Davis) is that it ensconces Dzubilo’s life and legacy in an atmosphere of care and compassion. Ideally, a catalog would accompany the present and be distributed broadly sufficient that various audiences — encompassing individuals who won’t ever make it to the gallery and don’t have any lively stake in the subject material — would encounter it.
The work received’t converse to everybody, however Dzubilo’s battles for ample healthcare and dwelling circumstances, and sure, her power, will resonate with surprising audiences. As rights and respect for LGBTQ+ individuals regress within the US, any step ahead is a rallying cry.
Chloe Dzubilo, “Untitled (Fashionista on the Cross)” (2008), ink on paper
Chloe Dzubilo, “Untitled (Surrender)” (2008), ink on paper
Chloe Dzubilo, “Untitled (Stop Pathologizing Me)” (2011), paint marker, coloured pencil ink on craft paper
Chloe Dzubilo, “Untitled (Full Life Growing)” (2009), ink on paper
Chloe Dzubilo, The Prince George Drawings continues at Participant Inc. (116 Elizabeth Road, Flooring One, Decrease East Aspect, Manhattan) by means of July 20. The exhibition was curated by Alex Fleming and Nia Nottage.
Gavilán Rayna Russom’s Oh Stay, a stay digital sound work, will happen at Participant Inc. on July 16 at 7:30pm.
