Description

Click HERE to view full video. This video was made as I thought back to my previous work that dealt with the classic Western cowboy icon. Cowboy masculinity has historically been regarded as unyielding, independent, and rough. These ideals have been perpetuated through almost every medium of pop culture. I am interested in finding the cracks within the expectations of masculinity, gender, and sexuality. As a queer person from Montana I was subjected to these social constructs and have had to sift through my own sense of obligation to fulfill or negate these ideals. Looking back to Old Country Western music, I heard a sense of vulnerability within Conway Twitty and other singers. Contemporary country music has an emotional distance to it that feels informed by our current rigid identity politics, so I connected to Twitty's softness. The song Lonely Blue Boy aligned with my own sense of loneliness throughout the pandemic and I also thought about the historic importance of Blue Boy as a symbol of gender and masculinity.