Taxonomy

”TAXONOMY” documents artwork created between May 2020-May 2021 and provides a portrait of an artist simultaneously going through a radical shift in identity during a global pandemic. The Intermedia work in this document includes video art, experimental instruments, installation art, sound art, and performance art and picks up where my M.A. thesis, “SPACE-TIME, SPACE-LIME: A Reproduction of my Experience in Intermedia”, left off. The research I had done in my first two years at the University of Iowa was principally concerned with Intermedia and Sound Art and I have directed that research towards a new goal in my third year of study. The body of work and research presented here is chiefly concerned with relationships between body, object, and instrument while relying on research in sound and transgender studies. The aim of this written thesis and supplemental video and audio documentation is meant to give some additional context of the works from the artists’ perspective and not to provide a final say on this body of work. Included to supplement this written thesis are three video files titled JHJ_PlasterBody, JHJ_UnblessedRestofUs_PerformanceExcerpt, and JHJ_TAXONOMY_Walkthrough. These videos document performances and installations featured in my MFA show which are elaborated upon in the text.