Connection and Consent: A Gallery Exhibition and Performance

September 29, 2018 by

Photo by Juan Carlos Ruiz Vargas of my performance, “Listen, No Speaking, Touch”, as Medusa at Pulqueria los Insurgentes, Cuidad de México, September 6, 2018. This performance was part of The Scarlet Tongue Project/El Proyecto de la Lengua Escarlata.

I have been asked by one of my favorite artists to install a piece of art and to perform during the opening event of a gallery show running the month of November and into December. Please come by, there are some really fabulous artists on the bill and it would be great to catch you at the opening on November 15th:

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Ourselves
An exhibition of transgender and non-binary artists making work about the trans experience

Exhibition: November 5- December 6
Reception: November 15, 5-9pm
University of Rhode Island, Providence
80 Washington St, Providence, RI 02903

Curated by Caleb Cole Artists:
Chai Anstett, Sam Bodian, Ria Brodell, Eli Brown, Caleb Cole, Leah Corbett, Arlo Crateau, Catherine Graffam, Jamezie Helenski, Rob Lorino, Cobi Moules, Lenny Schnier, Austen Shumway, J. Turk, Creature Karin Webb

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The installation and performance I’m bringing to this show is an iteration of the work I started this month in Mexico. I’m excited to bring my work to a third type of venue — from club space, to black box theater, to art gallery!

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“Listen. No Speaking. Touch.”
by Creature Karin Webb

Installation: A small nook area is set up/created with red fabric walls, it is warmly and dimly lit (as possible). Inside the nook there are 2 chairs and a small side table set with roses, a basin of water, with a stack of washcloths nearby. Scattered around the table, chairs, and floor are rose petals. Each petal is marked with a fingerprint of blood from the artist. There is a small swatch of red fabric with thread revealing a number of stitches already stitched in, the needle still attached, is prepared for more. The shape taking form on the fabric is the figure of a person. On the floor, a chalk circle surrounds the space (alternatively this can be taped or painted — whatever works best with the venue’s floor and traffic patterns).

Performance: The artist is dressed in comfortable, casual, sensual clothing. Outside of the circle on the floor, presented toward the audience, the artist places three signs: “Listen”, “No Speaking”, and “Touch”. The artist takes their place within the installation on one of the chairs. There are a few iterations of this performance which include different “offerings”. I am proposing “Washing” for this venue. The water basin and stack of wash cloths are used. Participants who wish to interact with the artist are welcomed non-verbally into the circle to sit in a chair. The entire one-on-one performance within the circle is non-verbally conducted. There is no expectation of what will happen or not happen. The offering to wash or be washed is physically present, though it is the connection between the two participants which is impetus for all action which occurs. This is a study in non-verbal communication, connection, desire, and consent. Performances with each participant vary in length. Each connection the artist makes over the course of the performance while in character (participants, audience members, etc.) is marked as one added stitch to the piece of red cloth. Eventually the form stitched will be stuffed with petals saved from each performance, and as the work continues, stitches of beading will be added until the object is complete.

Statement: I’ve been meditating on this piece of art and performance for a few years, and I began it’s practice in la Cuidad de México on September 6th, 2018. So far I’ve performed and installed this project in two different venues: the Mexican nightclub, “Pulqueria los Insurgentes”, and in a Mexican theater space, “La NaBe foro”. Both of these performances were created in collaboration with artists during an artist retreat as part of The Scarlet Tongue Project. Installation and performance at the University of Rhode Island will be my third venue. I plan to bring this piece to many venues of varying type and size throughout the next few years. Please write me if you have interest in booking this performance, other of my work, or to bring me to your venue as a speaker or educator: Contact

“Listen. No Speaking. Touch.” is a meditation on the artist I’ve become, the human I am presently, and the rules I’ve needed to break or ask permission to explore along the way. Its performance is an invitation for viewers and participants to grow with me, to experience communication non-verbally, to offer, accept, to hold boundaries, and ultimately to risk being present with another human intimately. “Listen. No Speaking. Touch.” elicits recollections of the ways I (and many people) have been marked, whether by society, socialization, or specific people, throughout our histories in ways which disrupt our naïveté and the fairy tale of what connection, love, sex, romance, and friendship are “supposed to” look like. We struggle, in this society, to find our way within a culture which promises personal rights and opportunities, yet enforces repression of individual expressions of identity through violence, non-consensual acts, systematic poverty, refusal to acknowledge the needs of minorities, through institutionalized bigotry, and largely through fear. We are beautiful as we are, marked though we may be. With “Listen. No Speaking. Touch.”, I want to create space for individuals to connect with me, the queer artist, in basic ways which allow curiosity a chance—by way of simple actions and silence we might discover co-creation. “Listen. No Speaking. Touch.” also invites one to explore thoughts and feelings around current discussions of the #MeToo movement. As we practice and/or witness non-verbal negotiation one becomes more attuned to the subtleties of a language which is physical and energetic, and must begin to take responsibility for the ways we are able to “Listen”, to understand the desires and boundaries of the people around us. We are complicit, we are aware, and we must take responsibility for the moments we create with one another, positive, negative, neutral, and complicated.

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Many of the artistic opportunities I engage in, and frequently the ones I believe in the most and want to continue to cultivate, are unpaid events. The work I create that is paid usually doesn’t break even and rarely profits for the materials invested and travel expenditures acquired. I don’t have the luxury to consider time and labor costs for my endeavors: rehearsals, tech time, actual time spent developing, creating, and performing, or installing a piece. I have been a professional storyteller since age 11 and have a degree, a certificate, and an entire year of Master’s work under my belt invested in my performance career, as well as decades of touring, producing, artistic direction, directorship, teaching, and troupe management under my belt. To date I’ve performed in almost all of the States, in four countries, and on two continents.

The reason I do what I do is because I believe in humanity and I believe in the power of an engaged community. I believe culture moves toward meaningful progress and improves conditions for under-privileged people because individuals “do” something to push these important conversations forward. My writing of this blog, the performances I bring to stage, the visual art I create, and the subjects and ways I educate are all part of how I, as an individual and an artist, bring my personal resources to the table to try and effect change. I made a choice early on in my career to work for my own creative brain and to develop a performance/artistic aesthetic and mission of my own, and to speak with my own voice to the audiences I find. Rather than audition for the theater community at large, I believe that as a queer person, as a woman, and a person who comes from and lives in poverty, that my voice is needed in contrast to the straight, white, cis, ableist, middle-to-upper class, patriarchal environment we are governed by and exist within.

If you admire or are inspired by any of the ways that I produce as an artist or educator I ask you to become a patron of mine and contribute to my Patreon campaign. My patrons are the only steady (ish) source of income I have, and they are the reason I’m able to invest in my art further and further as time moves on. I currently make about $450 a month. This is the base pay I live off of, supplemented by whatever other gigs I am able to book, and some months there are very few or none. I would like this base of patronage to grow so I can spend more of my time creating my art, producing, teaching, and performing, and less of my time trying to book paying gigs outside of my primary focus. I publish paid content through my Patreon page six times a month. It’s possible for you to pledge at whatever level you wish and to cap the amount that you pay if you desire to. Any amount helps. Please donate, and please share. Thank you.

Play On My Friends,
~ Creature

Support my writing on Patreon. For one time Donations: Support the Artist or email.
This writing takes time, research, and consideration. It is my art. Thank you.

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Celebrate the Whole Self: Bisexual Visibility Day

September 23, 2018 by

Today, September 23rd, is “Celebrate Bisexuality Day” also known as “Bi Visibility Day”! Yay!!! I identify as “Sexual”, as in: I’m attracted to you or I’m not, just like everybody else.

In my lifetime, being a “Sexual” person has certainly covered bisexual/pansexual/etc. behaviors. My particular orientation hasn’t discriminated according to gender or sex lines. I love loving whom I love, at the times and in the ways it makes sense to love the people that I do. I love being empowered to negotiate all sorts of romantic, sexual, sensual, friendly, exploratory, and even sometimes surprising types of connection with people who want to enjoy these things with me too.

I didn’t always identify this way. For a long time I considered myself to be a “straight woman who dreamed about, had sex with, and wanted other women” (’cause that’s a thing?)…It literally took someone giving me permission to be bisexual and to go take up space in clubs and other places where I could be around women who liked women, for me to embrace the true nature of my desire to be around and feel accepted by all the types of people I found attractive. Before that moment in time I spent a lot of time self-repressing. In my mind women who liked women didn’t like women who also liked men, and it literally took someone saying, “You’re allowed”, for me to show up at my first dyke bar. Even after that it took me a long time, and much stripping away of internalized fears, to fully believe that I was “enough” and deserved to be part of the amazingly diverse and beautiful queer family I’m now a part of.

Today I endeavor to pay back that kindness, and give permission to anyone who needs it. To anyone who’s ever wondered if it was ok to be attracted to someone, even though they were attracted to other types of people too: You are enough. In fact, that you like different types of people IS WHAT MAKES YOU bi/pan/omni/sexual/queer/open/insert new and original terms here. You exist! Other people like you exist! Just because you’re in a relationship with one person doesn’t mean you cease to exist as a whole person with complex and beautiful attractions! Come out and play!

Take a moment to (at least mentally) fuck the binary, and have some fun figuring out what actually makes you tick. It’s ok if you realize your curiosity isn’t a lifestyle or a forever identity. Just don’t be a repressive jerk about it if you return to a binary identity. As you’ve had the opportunity to play and learn, use that journey as a way to accept and respect others more deeply for their similarities and their differences. Thoughtfully and consensually have a blast with your heart and body, you only get one of them in this short lifetime. Don’t hold back because you fear you won’t fit in the same as someone else. Take care of yourself and your partners.

In general I highly recommend framing one’s sexuality within an ideal of “openness” regardless of who you are. If you’re more on the black and white ends of the spectrum, that’s great though I still think it’s important to empathize with people who are not. Thinking of yourself as someone who has the capacity (even if you’ve never had the experience) of being attracted to someone outside your “type” can help you understand and accept others more deeply and at face value. At the very least this way of thinking may help you become a safer person for LGBTQIA+ people to connect with. At most it could change your life and allow more wonderful creative people to enter your life in varying capacities.

NO SHAME is the name of my solo show, and it’s also a mantra which helps me revel in my life as I greet it every morning. If you’re someone who’s had a hard time resolving your thoughts and feelings on the subjects of sexuality, orientation, gender, sexual behavior, relationships, monogamy, kink, or any other facet of identity, consider personal or couple’s coaching from someone who is familiar with these subjects. I offer classes and coaching sessions for people working on these aspects of their lives, and am passionate about the work. We all deserve to be ourselves fully, and in this society that isn’t easy to figure out without support. Feel free to contact me for more information or with any questions you have, and happy Bisexual Visibility Day!

Play On My Friends,
~ Creature

Support my writing on Patreon. For one time Donations: Support the Artist or email.
This writing takes time, research, and consideration. It is my art. Thank you.

Filed Under: Perspectives on Kink Blog Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Institutional Bigotry

September 16, 2018 by

I have nothing to be ashamed of, and damn the powers that be which tell me this isn’t so.

This morning I read an article by Violet Blue about how female ASMR performers are being categorized and targeted as adult entertainers and so defunded by PayPal, Patreon, and shut out of YouTube. It’s an excellent read and I highly recommend it. Why does this matter? Let me count the ways as I take a stroll down the well worn path of Misogyny Lane…

Financial institutions stealing money from working women, non-white, and queer people is just one of the many things that has happened this past year (and historically) to undermine the power women and minorities have over our own bodies and lives. Banks and financial institutions have the power to restrict individual people for pretty much any reason which is what enables, even incentivizes, other industries to follow suit. Politicians are in bed with financial institutions, and they absolutely pave the way for discrimination, unfair treatment, and bigotry.

What’s kink got to do with it? Most of my Pro Dom clients are people who want to feel taken care of, enact being submissive, wear women’s underwear, or are straight up masochistic and can’t find what they need at home. Most of these people are men (we’ll get to that in a moment). Following my own journey through masochism, as someone assigned female at birth (AFAB), helped me to undo a lifetime of instilled mistrust in my body. It turns out I can take a punch, feel pain, and survive. I can even sensually enjoy it! With this increased sense of survival comes a deeper trust in my own body and myself. My core grows stronger, I am able to more confidently go after what I want in life, I’m freer to leave behind transgressions put upon me by society and my communities. I become less controllable and more independent. I have more energy to speak my mind, to organize, to continue learning… This is an example of what it can look like for a female person to break free from the mythological limitations they’ve been trained to believe in since birth.

I’ve been called crazy more than a few times in my life, mostly by men who saw me do something difficult or heard me speak up on an issue which made them uncomfortable (this list includes some trans men and butch women within the past 20 years too). I am feminine. I don’t deny this even though I prefer not to be categorized as such — it’s just what most people see in me when they look. I’m also fairly masculine, androgynous on my best days, and I love each of these parts of myself. That femininity is not inherently understood to be, among other attributes, a “practiced resilience”, is a disservice to the idea and ideal of femininity itself. It is even a foundation from which misogyny grounds itself upon. It may be terrifying to those who would align themselves predominantly with their masculinity, and therefore believe themselves to be “tougher” than those perceived feminine (conflated with “female”), when a feminine person shows their strength, resilience, and lack of fear about painful events. A healthy femininity is not a fragile body, heart, or mind.

So, what does a healthy masculinity look like? It’s certainly not machismo, misogyny, red pill rhetoric, or a patriarchally perpetuated masculinity. We animated bags of dirt, are whole. Feminine, androgynous, and masculine, all. To enslave one’s identity toward one facet of their experience and restrict all other desires and needs in order for one to appear to “pass” as “masculine enough” for patriarchal privilege, is a disservice to the miracle of being alive. We each have one body, one intellect, and a full range of emotions on our side. We each maintain an ability to train and retrain synapses within our brains an infinite number of times between birth and death. To utilize these assets we must continue to think critically, observe anew, question, and learn throughout our lives.

Back to my clients — the ones who are masculine or male identifying, yet still desire to be taken care of, explore submission, wear pretty things, and succumb to pain at the hand of a woman or feminine being. Imagine if their workplaces, friends, or families knew of their longing to experience and express femininity and “feminine things”. Might they lose their jobs? Be ridiculed? Murdered? Lose their lives as they know them, their families, and homes? Our cultural mythology says yes. News headlines and statistics throughout history concur. Political, financial, and social acts of misogyny reinforce our society’s expectations of patriarchal rule largely through instilling fear in all people about what might happen when one steps outside of compliance. We are not allowed to be our most authentic whole selves. AMAB people who desire expressions of femininity can expect to lose their livelihoods (if not lives), and women and minorities who unshackle themselves from a fearful and disempowered state can expect to be robbed, silenced, institutionalized, raped, and worse. There is no money and no structural incentive for those in power to support their citizenry in being whole.

Poor people are more controllable due to being stressed out, underfed, overworked, and less available to speak out and organize against the powers that be. Poor people often subscribe heavily to opiates of the masses — drugs, drink, television, video games, and other forms of intellectual depressants or escapism for the salvation of their struggling hearts and bodies. Middle class people fear losing what they have and becoming poor. For women and minorities to constantly be the target of governmental, financial, workplace, and social discrimination, and for these people to be held accountable to a different, usually more extreme, degree of consequence than groups which reflect patriarchal values, is absolutely not coincidental. This week’s news of the strange-yet-exceptional punishment of censorship paired with taking performers’ income away, in the name of stopping the disconnected yet very real practice of child rape and sex trafficking, is very important to pay attention to. It is an insidious act and practice. It is malign. It is absolutely against free speech. It is a dangerous and troubling conflation of ethics which further endangers realtime victims, doing nothing to solve the problem it cites as taking on in the first place. It is anti-American.

This is the United States we are living in right now. They are not only coming after me, a queer-female-trans-sex-worker-loudmouth-artist, in time they are coming after you too. Take a moment for internal introspection: how much fear and self-repression has society already instilled within you (or within the people you care for) in the name of playing along for external gain? How much of your soul have you sold? How many of your heart’s desires have you forgotten? What percentage of yourself has fear inspired you to let go of?

Play On My Friends,
~ Creature

Support my writing on Patreon. For one time Donations: Support the Artist or email.
This writing takes time, research, and consideration. It is my art. Thank you.

Filed Under: Perspectives on Kink Blog Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,
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