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    Performing Identities

    Presented by Coburn Gallery at Coburn Gallery

    January 11-February 19, 2008


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    Performing Identities

    Featuring photographs and video by artists Pushpamala N., Albert Chong, and Coco Fusco, Performing Identities challenges historical and contemporary notions of an ethnically-defined self. Drawing from sources such as Colonial-era photographs of Indigenous peoples, 19th century living anthropological exhibitions, and images from popular culture, the artists confront the Western historical practice defining and categorizing members of different...

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    Featuring photographs and video by artists Pushpamala N., Albert Chong, and Coco Fusco, Performing Identities challenges historical and contemporary notions of an ethnically-defined self. Drawing from sources such as Colonial-era photographs of Indigenous peoples, 19th century living anthropological exhibitions, and images from popular culture, the artists confront the Western historical practice defining and categorizing members of different cultures as anthropological types, i.e., the noble savage, the sexualized native woman, or the shaman. Employing strategies of self-portraiture, appropriation, and role-playing, the artists relocate these stereotypes within a contemporary context and, in so doing, uncover the hidden assumptions and biases embedded within commonly-accepted images. Born in Jamaica, the last of nine children in a family of Chinese-African ancestry, Albert Chong�s artworks address the fluid nature of cultural and personal identities. In an ongoing series of self-portraits entitled I-Traits, Chong confronts the romantic Western concepts of Jamaican and West African life that were popularized in 19th century European ethnographic photographs and are reinforced in contemporary tourist images. The video The Couple in the Cage: Guatianaui Odyssey (1993) documents a series of live performances by Coco Fusco and Guillermo G�mez-Pe�a during which they represented themselves as representatives of a fictional undiscovered tribe of South American Indians. By dressing in �primitive� costumes and remaining confined to a cage, the artists referenced popular 18th and 19th century exhibitions that featured living Indigenous peoples as �artifacts�. In her photographic series The Native Types, Pushpamala N. deconstructs perceived notions of Indian feminine identities by representing herself in the guise of archetypal images of Indian women. Drawing from a variety of readily identifiable artistic and pop culture sources, the series looks at the history of photography as an ethnographic tool and overturns it with sharp humor and excess.

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    Coburn Gallery

    14 E. Cache La Poudre St.
    Colorado Springs, CO 80903

    Full map and directions

    Admission Info:
    Free


    General Day and Time Info:
    12:30 PM -- 7:30 PM


    Accessibility Info: Currently, no accessibility information is available for this event.

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