"That Girl" Is Positively Fuming.

And I mean it. First, take a look at this article. Then, after you've finished throwing up your dinner, meet me back here. I'll wait.

Oh good. You're back. I find this situation so physically nauseating. I am tired of the phrase "American family" being used by narrow-minded politicians to defend the sanctity of the American family. Guess what? I'm a liberal minded, feminist artist, who makes work often dealing with, among other unsavory things, nudity and sexuality. I'm not very religious, although I'm quite faithful. My nearest and dearest friends are made up of circus freaks, strippers, live art practitioners and, yes, even gays. And you know what? I'm also a part of an American family. My progressive parents are observant Catholics, who have been married for over 30 years. They're also the warmest, most open and accepting people one could imagine. Some of their dearest friends are single parents, homosexuals and so on, the so-called enemies of the American family. Our family is built on foundations of open-mindedness, compassion and free artistic expression. In light of all that, we don't fit in John Boehner's conception of the uptight, malicious "American family" that protects itself behind the shield of a conception of Christianity that was never part of my (yes, my) Christian upbringing. I don't want to spoken for, under this disgusting umbrella, that preaches fear of anything that isn't familiar, and that isn't just like the grotesque examples of this hermetic so-called national identity. A large portion of my political and social life is under the control of these small-minded, big-mouthed jackasses. Stay out of my cultural life.

Museums and galleries are homes of culture, and dialogue. For all of their commercialization and commodification, these institutions still provide a place for artistic expression. The provide a haven and forum for expression that isn't welcome on the Congressional floors of my country. In any given museum, there will be pieces that bother me, trouble me, upset my thinking, perhaps even offend me (on very rare occassion). And to some degree, that is one major and important function of artistic expression. Monet's paintings are beautiful and artistically elevated, but they don't make you think critically, make you stand up and take notice of larger issue. And that's fine. That's one function of art. To astound and to beautify the world around us. And idiots like Boehner would have us believe (and have our tax money fund) only this type of work. This approach would in effrec silence any artist who disagreed with the current political and social climate. Goodbye, Jenny Saville. See ya, Tania Bruguera. And so on. By this reckoning, the only artistic work that is now to be consdered valid is the either the aesthetically beautiful or the politically and socially numb. Our politicans already speak for us. And now they want to be our eyes.

It's curious to me that artistic work that brings focus into political marginalization (be it economic disparity, sexuality, race, gender etc.) is called subversive. That's a label I'm dealing with in my own practice right now as well. I don't think I'm subversive, necessarily. But, because people like Boehner decide the accpeted norms, a great deal of artists (myself include) must needs always be on the outside of that. And therefore, we are subversive. We don't agree with how we are spoken for, and therefore, we are the outsiders. I can accept that as an artist, I suppose, but I cannot stomach it as a viewer. How dare you, John Boehner. You're not protecting American families. You're suffocating those who don't agree with your tiny little vision of this world that you share with billions of other people. I'm sorry that homosexuality bothers you. I really am. I'm sorry that you can't accept that people fall in love in ways that you can't grasp. It must be hell inside your claustrophobic little mind. But don't presume that all of us Americans wear your blinders. You are not protecting my family. In fact, you're making life very difficult for members of my extended, adopted American family, by placing less value on their lives and their families than you do on your own "acceptable" one. My American family is no relation to yours, and I'd like to keep it that way. I don't pretend to understand how you can live your limited little life, so do not assume that you can speak on how I should live mine. Stick to pencil-pushing, and leave our art alone.

That Girl International