Queer Communication: A Conversation with Ron Athey and Friends

Queer Communication: A Conversation with Ron Athey and Friends brought artist Ron Athey to Performance Studies to discuss his new project and previous experiences as a working artist and performer. With a discussion led by Malik Gaines and Lia Gangitano, Ron’s fellow friends and artists Arshia Fatima Haq and Zackary Drucker discussed Ron’s influence on their artwork. 

Ron Athey, a self - taught artist motivated by the club-era performances of Johanna Went, has been working in performance for over 40 years. His work explores the relationship between the sacred and the profane. One of his first works, Gifts of the Spirit, which Athey created when he was 18 years old, was influenced by his Pentecostal upbringing. Athey described himself as an “ecstatic child in church,” who was always fascinated in the spirit and how the spirit would overcome the parishioners at times, especially in moments when the overcoming would lead to abjection. When he lost his Pentecostal faith, he still had the spirit in him, as he did not believe that leaving Jesus meant leaving spirituality behind. This connection with spirituality and abjection has since been themes that have continuously been explored in Athey’s work. 

Arshia Fatima Haq is an artist whose work examines the intersections of modalities of working in different mediums, as well as modalities of being at the intersection of multiple identities. Arshia speaks of her confluence with the work of Ron Athey over common themes of inclusivity and queerness. For instance, her project Discostan creates a transnational connection between pre- and post- colonial, offering a club space where people of different communities can welcome each other in a liminal space that acknowledges cultural diversity. In the CYCLIC project, Haq collaborated with Athey to explore death rites. Her durational performance art piece involved the process of her burying herself, something she trained for with Athey. The performance brings together themes of ritual, the processes of being buried and exhumed, and of exploring the cycle of life and death within it. Her other work includes using motifs from Islam and Christianity to explore notions of the Ajnabi; meaning the stranger, alien, exotic. To see her work, visit https://arshiahaq.com/

Zackary Drucker is a trans woman breaking boundaries as a cultural producer and artist. Her prominent projects include the Emmy-nominated docu-series This is Me and her current HBO show, The Lady and the Dale. She joined the conversation by speaking about family relationships within the trans community. Athey and Drucker shared insights about creating a legacy that is radically inclusive and nurturing, alluding to the common experiences they shared. From 2007 onwards, they shared a familial relationship, with Drucker lovingly referring to Athey as “Papa,” and Athey mentioning the importance of a close knit circle that is deep, rather than having a large community of superficial relationships. 

This close bond with Athey has heavily influenced Drucker’s work. As a mentor, Drucker described how Athey is best suited for offering solution-based strategies. Athey’s projects brought to the surface work that lived in the realm of an inability to be looked at and the horror of waiting to be seen. His projects taught her how survival , “is to try to learn how to live with pain… learn how not to be overtaken by it,” a message that Drucker includes in her own art performances. 

In conversation with Ron Athey, Lia Gangitano, Arshia Fatima Haq, and Zachary Drucker,  Professor Malik Gaines was able to draw together the common theme of working together to create systems of cultural inclusivity as an example of a Queer Communion.  

Ron Athey spoke in depth about the importance of creating a ‘happening’. He insisted that art is more than its place in the museum, it is the communal sharing of the experience and bringing it to life. Queer Communion: Ron Athey, has been curated by Amelia Jones and is on display at Participant, Inc. from February 14th to April 4th, 2021. The show is a retrospective of Athey’s works, exploring art as he grapples with themes of community, past struggles, queerness, and more. The show also features Athey’s performance in 3 Acts, which took place on Tuesday February 16th, at 8 pm. Now more than ever, Lia Gangitano and Amelia Jones felt the need to put this show on display, which consisted of an ephemeral exhibition with lighting elements, costumes, and other ways that represented a performance without the actual performative component. Gangitano spoke of the challenges in making this show come to life, and Athey added that the opening date was repeatedly delayed. Despite all odds, they were able to push through and make the show a success! 

Story by Aarlene Vielot and Shivani Joshi