POEMS
Since It Happened, I’ve Been Thinking a Lot… (2023)
I’ve been thinking about Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor. Born on December 8th and gone the day after my birthday.
I’ve been thinking about being a young girl, watching VH1; I’ve been visualizing, on repeat, her teardrops falling gently down her face.
I’ve been thinking about the world as a stage. And a stage as a platform to be brave, and to be seen.
I’ve been thinking about the promise of art as a force change in the hearts and minds of those who bear witness.
I’ve been thinking about how acts of protest or resistance alienate those who dare to speak out.
I’ve been thinking about the costs of being a brave woman in this world. And how the world is not our stage, and never has been.
I’ve been thinking about the costs of calling out who and what lacks integrity, honesty, and goodness in this godforsaken hypocritical, selfish piece-of-shit place.
I’ve been thinking about the short-term memory of a society that conveniently forgets the ridicule, disrespect, judgment, shame, and violence it doles out
in response to brave women.
And a stage as a platform to be vilified, and to be silenced.
I’ve been thinking about how people have said, “Be nicer to women while they are alive.”
I’ve been thinking about the cost of advocating relentlessly for oneself because no one else will.
Of advocating for so long and so tirelessly that one day your voice gives out entirely. Just static.
I’ve been thinking about when she was alive, and she was looking for you.
But you weren’t there.
Babyfat (2022)
He said my thighs were
Too fat for a two-piece
Faded stripes carving
Into fatty fleshy folds
Sidewalk chalk washed
Away in the rain
Big bones that
Carry the taunts
Of girlhood crushes
Ripping up valentines
Of greasy school pizza
Staining white jeans
Of gym class uniforms
Put on / took off
In feverish haste
Feeling illicit
In cherub skin
With hands and feet
Tangled up
In picket white
2% milk to drink
For every meal
Dad putting forty bucks
In the bank, and Mom
Sleeping on
The sinking couch
Hot dogs thawing
In the microwave
Now I lay me down
To sleep
And pray the Lord
My soul to keep
If time in dreams is frozen,
Can I ever get away
From where I’ve been?
Cold Sweat (2022)
Some guys, they come
With hammers and nails
Some guys, they knock
Down walls, come inside
Without asking
His voice was cool - like the blues
And insides of storm cellars
He picks at the scab
Then sucks on the cut
Deities, like handsome fellows,
Dissolve in clinking cubes
Takes the edge off when
He’s pulling my hair
Too hard
Soon the leaves will fall
Like feathers, and I’ll be
Out of the woods
He’ll say, “Consider yourself free,”
But I never wanted to be
Courses (2022)
STARTERS
Rubbery pacifiers, sopped in spit
Cropped short hair, to look like a boy
Giddy giggles shushed at tuck-in time
Shiny coins awarded for mute mouths
Lessons in bed-making and lawn-mowing
Hamburger Helper and Dinty Moore
Daddy with a cigarette dangling
Mommy with a gambling problem
MAINS
Sunburnt skin with chlorine glaze
Prescription lenses with plastic frames
Both ears pierced, three holes each
Home sick from school, drinking flat Coke
Empty rooms where secrets retreat
Hardwood floors, plaster white walls
Mustached men with slender builds
Break-up letters then second chances
DESSERTS
Utility bills two months’ past-due
Twelve essential vitamins and minerals
Woolly slippers and lacey gowns
Sunken curves stuck to soft bones
A mushy heart clinging to the past,
Like a faded and folded photograph —
My parents on their wedding day in '83,
With fake carnations and frosted cake
ESSAYS
In this photo essay and interview series, multi-disciplinary artist Erica McKeehen and members of Chicago’s burlesque community reflect on the meaning and importance of burlesque in their life, their fellow performers lives, and its story within the city of Chicago.
Beginning in my childhood, set in rural central Ohio, I developed a lifelong fascination with glamorous icons. When I trace the origins of these obsessions, I recall fond childhood memories of collecting Marilyn Monroe Barbies, postcards, and calendars after seeing Ashley Judd’s portrayal of her in “Norma Jean & Marilyn” (1996). Living in a small town, without easy access to galleries, museums, or theaters, I watched TV, rented movies, and read my dad’s music magazines to explore creative curiosities. Eventually, Monroe’s iconic image plastered the walls of my childhood bedroom that I shared with my older sister, Shannon, patching areas of peeling wallpaper. Later in my pre-teens, I similarly adored Madonna’s provocative music videos and live performances. I was infatuated with depictions of these unapologetic, fabulous women. I aspired to one day author my own body and proudly flaunt my sexuality in the ways that they did. Their larger-than-life personas transported me to a vibrant, exciting place of possibility.
Provocative Play: The Power Of Chicago Burlesque (curatorial essay, 2022)
“Burlesque has transformed my life by allowing me to assert myself as the author of my sensuality. It has allowed me to express myself through something that would, in most other contexts, be weaponized against me, which in turn makes me feel more safe and protected in the world.” — Zahradka Tonic, Chicago Burlesque Performer
Today’s world of burlesque bends society’s norms and celebrates personal empowerment while addressing feminism, performance of gender, and DIY culture in resoundingly vibrant ways. Community and collaboration are pillars in the Chicago burlesque scene, centered on inclusivity and acceptance. Women and non-binary people have reshaped burlesque, both in the creation of performances and as primary audiences, exuberantly cheering along to every peel and reveal.
Provocative Play: The Power of Chicago Burlesque celebrates contemporary Chicago burlesque, showcasing the skill and depth of five of the city’s prominent performers. Ruby Spencer and Sally Marvel use their dazzling charms to celebrate the aesthetics and the spectacles of live performance, while Zahradka Tonic, Cruel Valentine, and Crocodile Lightning employ performance art to confront broader social issues.
These performers have changed the conversation around the art of burlesque, engaging us directly with commanding eye contact and communicating power over what they want their bodies to mean to us. Ultimately, they construct and control their projected self-image. There is a confident solidness about their statures, the gravity of bodies unafraid of inhabiting space on their own terms.
Featuring over 70 images from primarily Chicago photographers, Provocative Play captures the performative nature of the scene, from the documentation of live acts to the creation of artfully staged pin-up shots. As burlesque continues to blur the lines of gender and sexuality and to deconstruct boundaries, it is my hope that displaying these striking images in a gallery, rather than a club or theater, further erases the line between the public and private performance of the powerful and erotic.
Provocative Play highlights the role of burlesque in the Chicago entertainment landscape as both a performance art and a subculture. Amid a global pandemic that closed local bar and theater venues, the show goes on for burlesque performers who are producing and performing in virtual shows, recording and documenting their performances, and finding paid subscription platforms to host their photo and video content permanently. Performers in Chicago are also reaching new audiences by collaborating with artists from other states and countries. Artists within the community have been working tirelessly to overcome the financial burdens set upon them by the realities of COVID-19, examining novel ways to keep their art relevant and exciting in virtual spaces.
In a time also defined by re-examining racial tension and struggle, burlesque in Chicago has undergone challenges — and the scene has shifted and changed in a brief time to address concerns of racism and inequality within the community.
Burlesque’s exploration of identity, glamour, and performance is a recurring conversation in the art world, and burlesque is an art form that responds to the culture of its time throughout history. Provocative Play is an entry into that conversation on behalf of Chicago.