Chloe on Cover (Magazine Title)
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Letter From Editor
As this semester comes to a close, I would like to thank Steven Broadway for all the help and use of his archival mind in my self-identification as an artist. As I am creating this zine for my final in Design Communication, I would like to say that this could possibly inspire something greater in my work to come, as I have began to curate and examine myself more and more this semester. The namesake, (Im So Tired) is a combination of truth and satire, since this has been the most emotionally draining and thought provoking semester I have experienced thus far in my career as a student and as an artist. As most of the artist in this zine have been also very tired, politically, emotionally and over worked. There is so much to say but not enough time, space or accumulation.
Enjoy break!
Cassadee Hirsch
Im So Tired
Content
12: Barbie Girl: Chloe O’Nell 20: Surrealism:
The Conjured Life
26: Twos Company: Sole Sisters
34: Lies & The Lying Liars Who Tell Them
Contributors advertisement:
Luxsi Young Colleen Allen photography:
Tanner Abel content:
Chloe O’nell Lies & The lying liars who tell them:
Michael Gilleran
Barbie Girl: Chloe O’neill
Chloe O’neill is a model and Journalist, studying at Eugene Lang as a sophomore. We met with Chloe earily in the morning to discuss trans issues and trans idenity.
Tells us a bit about yourself? What is your sign?
I am a girl from upstate NY! I came to live here in New York City last year to study at The New School. I write poetry. I am a Cancer. My mom is a Aries and my dad is a Scorpio.
What your career endeavors? What are you currently studying? I want to get my PhD. in Science and Technology Studies and teach in a university and write books. I see myself living in New York or some other large city. I just got accepted into the BA/ BFA program in The New School, so starting in the spring I will be studying Design and Technology at Parsons and Culture and Media at Eugene Lang College. How would you define your aesthetic? What colors are choice in your wardrobe and what brands are you fan-girling? I like to play with the limits of good taste. I am really interested in monochrome colors paired with different textures, so I like to work with denim, pleather, knit etc. pieces. I also like to dress femininely, and can’t get enough of the color pink. In this way, I imagine my aesthetic as the lovechild of Moschino Barbie, early fashion, and Eckhaus Latta. Right now I am really into the brand ADER.
I heard you were beginning to model, tell me a bit about this! Yes I am! I have gotten into modeling through having mutual friends who were also starting to model. As a transwoman, I feel like the public’s conception of my body is something that is degenerate or less beautiful. For me, modeling helps fight damaging beliefs about the trans identity and beauty, at least for me in my mind.
What does Gender mean to you?
Gender is something that is socially constructed but socially ingrained in sex, being the biology, of a person. As you are part of the trans community, where have you found a support system? I have found a lot of support in the memoirs of other trans women. Seeing beautiful trans women in the media like Hari Nef, Janet Mock, Laverne Cox, has also always been a huge inspiration for me. As I have begun to transition, I have also made connections with other people who were early in their transition. Talking with other trans girls has been the most helpful for me.
How is your transition going?
My transition is going very well! With a couple exceptions, I feel very accepted and supported by all of my peers. I feel so much happier and confident than I ever did before. So far I have realized how much I still have to learn about myself and the world around me. I feel like I am always changing; it is my goal to just become a better and better person.
When did you know you were trans?
I had moment throughout my life where I had the realization that I was trans, but it was something that I buried deep down because it was too scary to think about. As I have gotten older I have realized that being myself is worth it, even if its harder than being what other people want me to be. How has your life changed in the past months? As I said before, I have become a lot more confident. I have made a lot of new friends in the trans community. I have new hair, my name has changed, and I’ve fallen out of a committed relationship. I feel like I have a lot more changing to do! What do you wish many Americans would understand about the trans-gender community? I wish that people would understand that gender exists in a spectrum – meaning that trans people don’t pop from one side of the gender binary (male/female) to the other.
We all exist somewhere inbetween or even outside of this binary. In this sense, the presentation of gender, especially in transgender people, doesn’t have to fit in that binary. For example, know trans women who don’t like to wear dresses, and trans men who wear makeup!
How is the Cis gaze in acceptance to the Trans community?
A lot of cisgendered people are “accepting” of trans people in the media, but still hold them at a lower social status to their peers. Many cis people are also weirdly invasive about trans bodies. Don’t ask me weird questions about my body that you wouldn’t ask any other random person that you meet!
Words of advice for your past self?
Trust yourself!
Words of advice for people who are coming to terms with their trans-identity?
I would say that you should find and connect with as many people you can to build your support system. Everything is easier with a strong support system. Once you find those people you can rely on you can be more and more comfortable taking risks with yourself.
MCA
Surrealism: The Conjured Life
Surrealism: The Conjured Life is a variety of more than 100 different artists, showcasing sculptures, drawings and photographs that depict surrealism. The exhibition is meant to bring inspiration for Chicago based artists, as the exhibition has a long life from November 2015- July 2016. Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art primarily focuses its curation on well-known artist and local Chicago artist. The exhibition exhibited Rene Magritte (the artists work has had long residency in Chicago since 2013, when exhibited for six months at the Art Institute of Chicago) Nick Cave, Jimmie Durham, Hans Bellmer, Remedies Varo, and Lucas Samara. As well, we include Kathryn Andrew’s work, whose exhibition was directing across from Surrealism: The Conjured Life. Kathryn Andrews (b.1973): Run for President, focuses on image producers, such of artists, corporations, movie productionists and politicians. As a main ethos she represents the viewers power or lack there of power and control.
Jimmie Durham American, b. 1940 In a Cabin in the Woods 2010 Deer skin, wood, and felt 64 3/4 X 24 1/2 X 12 1/2 in. (164.5 X 62.2 X 31.8 cm)
Nick Cave American, b. 1959 Hair Brush 1999 Wood, metal, and hair 19 X 6 1/4 X 3/4 in. (48.3 X 15.9 X1.9 cm)
Hans Bellmer German, b. Poland, 1902–75 La Toupie (The Top) 1938/1968 Oil on bronze 1 3 1/4 X 6 13/16 X 6 in. (33.7 X 17.3 X 15.2 cm)
RenĂŠ Magritte, Les merveilles de la nature (The Wonders of Nature), 1953, Oil on canvas,
Kathryn Andrews Die Another Day, 2013 Polished stainless steel, glass, brass, and certified film prop This piece invites viewers to review themselves in a different perspective, it resembles a dressing room mirror from a movie set the artist recieved.
Kathryn Andrews, Hobo (Santa’s Helper No. 2), 2014, Ink on paper and Plexiglas, aluminum, paint, and mixed media, 43 X 37 x 2 in. (111.1 x 94 x 5.7 cm)
Kathryn Andrews, Hobo (The Candidates), 2014, Ink on paper and Plexiglas, aluminum, paint, and mixed media, 43.75 x 37 x 2.25 in. (111.1 x 94 x 5.7 cm)
Twos CompAny: Sole Sisters Kelsey & Baylee Soles Photography by Tanner Abel Styling by Cassadee Hirsch
Baylee (L) wearing Helmut Lang and Henrik Vibskov Kelsey (R) Wears Comme Des Garcon
Baylee: White Zara PantSuit Kelsey: Black Issey Miyaki Pleats Please Suit
Baylee: Colleen Allen White Mesh Dress, Vintage White Sweater and Pants Kelsey: Comme Des Garcon Pants,
Kelsey: Leather Button up, Vintage Black Kimono, Wool Pants From Acne Studios, White YRU Sneakers Baylee: Silk Vintage PJs and White DR Martens
Lies and The Lying Liars Who Tell Them By Michael Gilleran
“The aide said that guys like me were, “In what we call the reality-based community,”
which he defined as people who, “Believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.”…”That’s not the way the world really works anymore,” he continued. “We are an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you are studying that reality—judiciously, as you will—we will act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that is how things will sort out. We are history’s actors…and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.”
These comments would be revealed as those of Karl Rove, an aide to then President
George Bush. On one hand, perhaps the comments are the murmuring tangents of a man who has spent too long hanging around the back doors of the greater political regime. At the same time, there is truth in his words. If you give words like actor, empire, and reality their political definitions, then he presents a savvy analysis of the Bush administration and what would become Arendt and others post-9/11 Republican Party. Or better yet, an inside look at what exactly it was they thought there were doing as political actors, and how they warped, or in some way, hollowed out the responsibility of their position via their means of appearance in political spaces beyond the exigent circumstances of those issues at hand. How has agency in politics eroded or shifted, and what is the evolution of the political lie to its contemporary?
The Brief History of the Lie
Even if one isolates the US government, it is difficult to pick out a “first lie,” in a political system. Was the first lie in The Declaration of Independence itself, where slave owners said that all men were created equal? Or was it not many years after Independence was secured, and the Whiskey Rebellion was put down in order to levy a tax on many men who fought for independence in militias? One thing is different about these lies then the modern lie—that is, the character of them. Perhaps it was because the Judiciary was week at the time. Perhaps it’s because people were just more okay with the idea of creating genocide. But it seems as though the lie
is more bald-faced, and lacks a characteristic of Brecht’s fourth wall that is in the DNA of the modern lie. What many political thinkers point to as a key shifting point between the old lie and the new comes down to what was reported on in The Times as the Pentagon Papers. These documents were compiled by General McNamara, then the commander of operations in Vietnam, for either nefarious or scholarly reasons depending on whom you ask. Eventually, they were leaked by a government official (who was charged at the time with espionage, among other things) and they revealed that President Johnson had been systematically lying about the Vietnam War to Congress
and the American people more or less since its inception. It was revealed that the military ramped up operations, including assaults by Marines, to bait Vietnam into the attacks that started the war. It was revealed by Johnson in his own words that the primary purpose of the war was to stave the Imperial capabilities of China, and revealed specifically that the government wanted to create three fronts by which to isolate China—A Korean/Japanese front, an Indian/Pakistani front, and a Southeast Asian front. When you consider that the papers date all the way back to 1945, and remember the war in Kashmir between India and Pakistan, you will find that all three of these fronts were fulfilled at some point. These papers were leaked during the Nixon administration, which ties well into other political lies. It’s not necessarily clear how his administration handled the documents, or if they even knew about them, but given the administrations reputation with lying, one may be able to make assumptions. What’s unique about this lie, and possibly the reason many point to this as the first modern lie; it was a prolonged campaign of lying regarding a specific multi-president issue, and which involved many agencies that represent the modern government. It represents a concerted effort between multiple heads of agencies, and is essentially the makings of a conspiracy to assert the dominance of US imperial interest. It wasn’t simply the egregious acts of independent actors, but a policy dictated by lies.
The lie would essentially remain the
same until we enter the Post-9/11 political sphere, but one man would change the world surrounding it. Reagan, throughout his administration, was engaged in a process of regime building imperial dominance in South America. This imperial nosing about goes back to the 1800’s, and Reagan’s administration was simply the latest permutation of the US government meddling in South American affairs.
Reagan found himself in a dubious battle with the media, who wanted to know why the US was training terrorists, etc, and the whole debacle that usually insulates a US led strategic effort. Reagan took to stage, and in a speech cast reporters who disagreed with his policies as nay-sayers; professional whiners who made money criticizing the actions of men who knew better. In his desperation, Reagan created a new paradigm for the lie to survive in. The media was no longer a facts based organization who had a duty to inform citizens. Now there was an ideological division in reporting. Those who revealed scandal and posed questions were an element of opposition—everyone has bias, including reporters, and this bias is enough to disregaurd undesirable reporting by officials or citizens. There are also reporters who report on sports teams, cats stuck in trees, and car accidents. These are the good reporters—they know they should not meddle in the affairs of politics, which they are incapable of understanding. This plays into the larger themes of specialization and professionalization in America—those who are no professionals cannot be experts. Professional reporters are not specialized enough to report on politics.
Now Watch This Drive: The Self Lying Political Vehicle A year before 9/11, several events happened that resembled a coup in the US. The 2000 election was ran between professional-uncomfortable-and-smug-looking-man Al Gore, and class-clown George Bush. Some may recall Ralph Nader had a significant standing for an independent as well (to misquote Batman, some might say, the hero we need but not the one we deserved). The election was close, and Florida was the deciding state. The votes were coming in, and it seemed like Gore had won
Suddenly, Fox News called the state for Bush even though no other outlets were reporting it. A controversy was created, and even though Gore ended up winning, a recount was demanded. This recount was halted by the Florida state supreme court on the merits that no recount was necessary, a decision which was appealed all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States. The Supreme Court voted 5-4 that the recount could take place, and in the recount, voting parameters were changed. Bush won the election. It seemed in one fell swoop that the GOP had duped the entire political process from the Florida voting booth to the Supreme Court. And Stevens was joined by 3 others in what can only be described as a scathing dissent, saying that the Supreme court should not even have heard the case—that the Florida state court had the right to halt the recount, and that it may very well have been illegal for a federal court to make a ruling on a state voting procedural issue. One could say that from the moment of its inception, the Bush administration was building the lying machine we know today. And so when the tragedy of 9/11 occurred, what happened is unsurprising. After a period of relative silence, the administration was calling for war. Iraq had chemical weapons. Iraq had WMD’s. Iraq wanted to destroy the US. Under this cover, the Bush administration created and passed the Authorization of Military Force act, which broadened the conditions under which any president could deploy the military without congressional approval. In some ways, congress voted to go to war with Iraq—but in a very literal way, they voted to go to any war that any president at any time wanted. And one would feel bad for them, say they were lied to etc by the Bush administration or the CIA, that you yourself would have gone to war if you had seen the information that the senate had access to. Unfortunately, it came out recently that no such evidence was ever presented to the senate, and the sudden loyalty of democrats to a republican president suddenly seems too convenient. Essentially, they created a global environment that was so catastrophic that normally large aggressions would go unseen. It’s to blowing up a post office on one side of town so that you can rob a bank on the other side. Under the guise of the Iraq war, police were militarized, banking regulations were torn down, the prison population bloomed, and more.
This is where we are with the lie now. Since the 60’s, we have been conditioned to think
that lying is inherent in government. In some ways, it’s justified by the fact that society has become so large; so many conflicting interests have to coexist that perhaps the lying is necessary on both ends to create a stable world. But I doubt it is so. And the effects are dubious, and have created what I will refer to as the lie of truth—the modern lie. One need only look as far as candidate Donald J. Trump for an example of the lie of truth. It’s very simple. You take a lie that is commonly believed, you say it publicly, and you let your opposition attack you. Then, in response, your supporters will galvanize and grow your base. Trump is a master at this—every time his polls dip, he makes an erroneous comment, whether it be about Mexicans, muslims, or anything else, and then, within days, he leads the polls again. The power of this lie is that because it is not fact based, it is impossible to refute. And some ways, maybe this was the power of the lie all along—it allowed those who were empowered by a system of oppression to support it with claimed ignorance.
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