Critical Writing Index

Like a Girl's Name: The Adolescent Drag of Amber Hawk Swanson, Kate Gilmore, and Ann Liv Young

by Anna Watkins Fisher

TDR: The Drama Review, Spring 2012, v. 56, no. 1, pp. 48-76

Article abstract: "What if the future of feminist art lay not in images of self-mastery, dignity, and maturity but rather in performances of teen regression? Adolescent drag designates a performance of irony, awkwardness, and equivocality that expands the identificatory repertoire available to a generation of women are said to have inherited from Western feminism."

The author theorizes about the project of "autogenesis" in the "adolescent drag" performance and video works of Amber Hawk Swanson, Ann Liv Young and Katie Gilmore, finding in their respective practices awkward humour, parody, biting social and self critique, and a new model for feminists to "give birth to the self."

ITEM 2012.027 – available for viewing in the Research Centre

Videos, Artworks and Artists Cited

The Feminism? ProjectAmber Hawk Swanson

To Have and To Hold and To ViolateAmber Hawk Swanson

Walk This WayKate Gilmore

Standing HereKate Gilmore

Walk the WalkKate Gilmore

CinderellaAnn Liv Young

Melissa is a BitchAnn Liv Young

Snow WhiteAnn Liv Young

Brave New GirlNeal Medlyn