"Ask A Tranny"

Ask a Tranny is performance piece that aims to create a public dialogue about the intimate issues of gender identity and being a transgender person. I am invested as an artist in constantly confronting my gender identity as well as the language that comes with this perception of who I am. I identify as transgender and as a tranny but what do those words mean and how do they fluctuate in meaning coming from non trans places like the media. The media has glommed on to the transgender experience by taking trans peoples lives and turning them into movies, reality TV shows, and HBO dramas. Ask a Tranny is a direct response to the medias appropriation and in some cases degradation of trans peoples stories. By performing Ask a Tranny in a public place where I am offering myself up to anyone wanting to talk to a transgender person I am immediately exposing myself and possibly putting myself in danger. By inserting myself into this cultural dialogue I am making myself a conscious spectacle, trying to discover how the public truly feels about trans people.

Ask a Tranny gives the viewer a chance to be a voyeur by having a trans person in front of them admonishing their gender identity loud and clear. I am a trans person who happens to pass as male every day of my life. Yet, I am shedding this skin and proclaiming myself loud and clear, and the consequence of this is somewhat of a mystery (how will people react?). This performance piece is a process of public observation to promote a private conversation I have with myself almost constantly, and that is the questioning of gender in my world and the world that surrounds me.

The performance will consist of going into public spaces such as parks, and city streets and setting up a small table. I will be sitting at the table and above my head will be a sign that reads Ask a Tranny. On the table will be documents and photos that expose my transition. I will sit there and answer any and all questions from those who come to speak to me.