Untitled (Too real is this feeling of make believe)
Tucker Pierce works to examine the constructed nature of identity through the act of modifying the surface of his body, the site of all identity expression, and through the strategic crossing of borders, both internally and externally. Using drag and his own body, he crosses the internal boundaries that govern identity expression and then the more physical border between the private and public sphere. He crosses this boundary by taking this modification of his external identity expression into the world at large. On a personal level, this project allows him to engage more completely with his own sense of self, and at a more public level it allows him to expose a crack in the system of gender, something society wants us to perceive as a strict and un malleable binary and that works to oppress individuals based on what are perceived as inflexible differences. Using the artist's body as an armature for the multiple originals that identity can take the form of, as well as the primary site of identity and identification, he explores the disjunction between his expected performance and the modifications of that expectation that he presents. By upsetting the social contracts that govern all identity expression, Untitled (Too real is this feeling of make believe) reveals the fluidity and self awareness that can be achieved when one stop taking themselves too seriously.