This exhibition transports us to the world of one of my characters, Anita Finger, the Bathtub Drag Queen. The Bathtub Drag Queen is part of a series I began developing in my work in 2016. The characters operate as hyperboles of compartments of my personality; each individual is autonomous of me, and they manifest in different formats. They are part of a larger ongoing body of work that explores the construction of identity as it pertains to society and the self.
The Bathtub Drag Queen exists to us only through her artifacts. She has opened her bathroom-cum-ballroom to us, and yet we never encounter her. Correspondence with her mentor Madame Ashkea and dancers activating the installation are as close as we ever get to meeting her. The foil to the Bathtub Drag Queen is Gary the Man. While Anita is absent yet aware of our presence, Gary is physically present but unaware of us. From all appearances, Gary performs his expected social roles. But once he is alone, we glimpse how he sees himself.
Through installation, performance, sculpture, video and more, I am transforming the space – a space where all might traipse for just a moment. Welcome to Anita’s soirée!
Eden Collins is a queer artist living and working in Nacogdoches, Texas, where she teaches sculpture at Stephen F. Austin State University. She received her Master of Fine Arts at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). Born in West Branch, Michigan, Collins completed her Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art at Hope College in Holland, Michigan. Collins’ work spans sculpture, installation, photography, video, and performance and addresses public versus private identity, construction of the self, and sexuality. She has exhibited and performed in Texas, nationally, and internationally.
edencollins.com
@edencollins_art
Guest Performers: Heather Samuelson, Nicholas Zack, and students from the Stephen F. Austin State University Dance Program