In Self Evidence, Jonathan VanDyke looks for himself in a family photograph taken during his childhood. The picture shows his adopted Uncle wearing his mother's dress while holding the trunk of a stuffed elephant in his mouth. VanDyke's performance explores the issues faced by queers who were children during the AIDS crisis and 80's culture wars, and how the hyper-capitalism and theatricality of this period nurtured a certain type of passing (including his own). Augmented by research into a gay panic that happened in his rural hometown, passages from the soap operas he watched as a child, and memories of a disappeared Uncle, he evokes the repressed ghosts of a lost generation of queer mentors while exploring his own transition from theatrical youth to closeted jock.
Admission is free, and the performance lasts approximately 95 minutes. Performed by Jonathan VanDyke, with Fred Brown, Jessica Creane, Johanna Kasimow, Lydia Kincaid, Lillian Ransijn, and Meryl Sands.
Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Where We Find Ourselves, curated by Jordan Rockford, at the Open Lens Gallery at the Gershman Y. Produced in association with the UArts / Pig Iron School Devised Performance Program and NYPAC, the New York Performance Artists Collective.
