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SHE GONE ROGUE

Artist (Born in Syracuse, New York, 1983)
Artist (Born in Pomona, CA, 1982)
Date2012
MediumVideo (color, sound)
Dimensions23:00 minute loop
ClassificationsVideo
Credit LineMuseum purchase
Object number2014.9.1
Collections
  • MODERN & CONTEMPORARY
Edition5
State2
Label TextSHE GONE ROGUE, the first large-scale collaboration between transgender artists Zackary Drucker and Rhys Ernst, presents a disjointed and poetic journey of identity formation. The protagonist, Darling, (played by Drucker) searches for meaning following a break-up, and is sent on a quest to deliver a sacred icon to a higher power. The people Darling encounters along the way are her real-life mentors and family, including gender nonconforming and transfeminine cultural legends Holly Woodlawn (Auntie Holly), Vaginal Davis (The Whoracle of Delphi), and Jack Doroshow (Mother Superior Flawless Sabrina), as well as Drucker’s own parents. Citing Pier Pasolini’s Teorema (1968) and Maya Deren’s Meshes of the Afternoon (1943) as cinematic inspirations, Drucker and Ernst employ techniques of avant-garde experimental film to explore the terrain of Darling’s subconscious and blur the line between reality and imagination. The video’s numerous symbols, dreamy sequences, and eerie landscapes create an otherworldly atmosphere that transcends traditional notions of place and time. Darling’s investigation of the self, with the aid of various characters, is both a magical voyage of personal discovery and an homage to the transgender peers who came before her.
ProvenanceGallery acquired work directly from the artist. (Luis De Jesus Los Angeles)