Trans*Archives

Humanities Center Trans*Studies Symposium

 

Trans*Archives

Jack Halberstam

Columbia University

 

In his brilliant, humorous and whimsical parody of a Smithsonian book titled American History in 101 Objects, artist Chris E. Vargas, in 2015, invited visitors into his imaginary Museum of Transgender Hirstory to see a show titled Transgender Hirstory in 99 Objects. Riffing on the self-importance of the Smithsonian title, the precision of its 101 objects and its investment in the notion of authentic history in the first place, Vargas called attention to the way that a history of gender variance will necessarily fall by the wayside in any canonical account of American history and will require its own object lessons. The objects that collectively tell the story of gender variance are counter-intuitive and suggestive, risqué and emblematic. For Vargas’s show, the objects ranged from queer banners by Tuesday Smilie to sculptures of hybrid creatures and photographic records of transgender lives gone by. What Transgender Hirstory in 99 Objects made clear, however, was that  trans* histories, which have been narrated as a record of pathology, dysphoria and trouble need their own archive in order to remove themselves from the medical history of disorder. This talk offers its own version of trans* history through a series of objects and archives ranging from photo albums to films, paintings and performances.