Case study 2: Karen Finley
We Keep Our Victims Ready, 1990 Walkerart.org
Karen Finley - American Performance Artist
Karen Finley is an American performance artist who writes and performs text. I am especially interested in the work she did in the mid-eighties to nineties and how it spoke to the political climate in the states at the time. I am also interested in her use of voice; the way she manipulates her voice to underline or juxtapose the meaning of the written text. Finley became part of what is known as the NEA Culture Wars in America that were a political fight about arts funding played out in the 90s in the states. Discussions and legislation around arts funding became proxies for discussions about queer rights, AIDS, abortion and other issues facing marginalized communities. Jesse Helms was a conservative republican senator from North Carolina who was the right’s main champion for the dismantling of arts funding. Helms and other conservative commentators used Finley’s work to paint a sensationalized picture of the so-called obscene and indecent art funded by federal money.
Much of Finley’s work in this period (We Keep Our Victims Ready, Constant State of Desire, A Certain Level of Denial) is concerned with silence and lack of agency. A Certain Level of Denial was made as response to the many friends Finley lost during the AIDS crisis. A recording of A Certain Level of Denial was released as an audio cd and several of her performance texts has been published in the form of poetry. The opening track on A Certain Level of Denial is entitled ‘Hello Mother’. It opens: ‘Hello mother/Hello mother/Your son is dying/No, don’t hang up your son is dying.’ (1) It begins with addressing the mother of a son dying of aids related illnesses, and goes on to describe different aspects of society that remain blind or silent in the face of suffering. For example she criticizes hospitals and through them the American healthcare system: ‘Someone needs a wheelchair/Ain’t got one.’ The track ends ‘Hello America/No answer’. The piece is about how American society fails to take care of its marginalized citizens both on a broader level and specifically in the context of the aids crisis. President Ronald Regan (1981-89) refused to acknowledge the crisis or even say the word AIDS. ‘Hello America/No answer’ references this silence and refusal of the political establishment to recognize the crisis. Finley’s work is part of a broader art and activism practice at the time which is perhaps most succinctly summed up by the image of a pink triangle with the words ‘Silence = Death’ printed underneath it – the logo for New York AIDS activist group Act Up (2). Silence and the silencing of marginalized people runs as theme throughout A Certain Level of Denial, which also touches on the shame and silence surrounding abortion on the track ‘It’s My Body’. On both ‘Hello Mother’ and ‘It’s My Body’ Finley uses her voice to lend a sense of urgency to her words. The delivery of ‘Hello Mother’ sounds almost like shouting and has a preacher-like quality to it. Rather than simply being a description of American society’s silence her voice makes the words accusatory; an indictment of the death and misery caused by the American governments inaction.
In my own work I am inspired by how Finley uses both content and form to make political statements. She intervenes in political discourse by lending a (purposefully loud) voice to issues that are not being addressed. Researching Finley’s work and her role in legal battles surrounding arts funding has made me think about the responsibility an artist has to engage with politics through form content and actions.
1) Karen Finley, ‘Hello Mother’, on A Certain Level of Denial (Rykodisk, 1994)
Actupny.org