2fik: the camera loves this gender-bending artist

Montreal artist 2fik plays an eclectic cast of characters in his photographs. As he prepares for SPARK, Studio 303’s urban safari, he discusses how identity, costume, and performance intertwine for the camera. 

 

Do you workshop your photographic identities, and if so, are there characters that never see the light of day? Because I see my characters as caricature extrapolations of myself, I don’t workshop them. Their body language, attitude, and non-verbal communication come naturally to me. I know them well enough to talk about each of them for hours! The complexity of my characters comes from the fact that I work with my own experiences. All the people around me are inspirations. Some characters didn’t end up in my images, either because they weren’t realistic, or because they weren’t relevant to my story. What I like in my photos are the notions of movement and constant evolution. Characters come and go, grow, change, and learn things. They’re organic!

 

I like how your work pushes past drag, and plays with many performative genders. Thank you for this little compliment. I’m trying to stay ambiguous, to avoid strict labels, and not be pigeonholed. Some people can only refer to me as a drag queen or a transvestite. While I certainly respect these forms of gender-bending, I consider myself neither one nor the other. I go beyond the concept of drag, and return to the simple idea of disguises, the use of clothing and accessories to play different characters. Oddly enough, I don’t have a preference when it comes to playing men or women in my photographs. The only difference is that playing women requires more preparation and gives me cramps in my calves!

 

Will you ever explore these performances through different forms of media? I’m starting to work with video and I’m just having fun with it. I’ve already made some short films with friends, and I’m proud of them. The idea of doing live performance is fascinating to me: the emotional exchange with a room of people is fantastic, and the idea of having to give 200% of yourself during a show is almost transcendent!

 

What are you going to do with Dana Michel at Studio 303’s urban safari SPARK? Dana and I are both working with blurring identities, in the sense that we’re fascinated by how humans can switch from one identity to another. She does this with brilliant choreography, and I do it with photography. We’re a lot alike, so the idea of performing together came very naturally. I’m not going to say anything else about this project except that it will be the product of our radical visions.

 

 

Dana Michel & 2fik
September 10 and 11 at 7 p.m.
Presented as part of Studio 303’s SPARK
MAI (Montréal, arts interculturels) | m-a-i.qc.ca