Identity Theft came out of the many discussions we had about not being able to fully express ourselves when we were younger.
Who could we have been if we’d had that freedom?
When Zoey Zoric and Janne Reuss joined us in the studio we invited them to join in.
It evolved into constructing a life-sized representation of how we each wanted to look. We also created a crime scene board showing evidence of what we wanted to be but weren’t allowed.
For promo material, we created some pretty awesome black and white mugshots. We look like a dangerous bunch.
This installation was my way of unpacking how growing up in the ’70s and ’80s shaped who I am now. But it also makes me wonder—if I’d been free to be my full-on, big, gay, weird, creative self back then, what kind of chaos would I have created as a kid, a teenager, or a twenty-something? Honestly, it probably would’ve been even louder and weirder than this. The fantastic dress I created was inspired by the court dresses of the 1800’s and is completely built from the children’s books I owned as a child!
I remember showing everyone my mugshot photo and saying I wanted to create one for everyone. This is where I developed a love of playing around with our images.
My contribution centred around my being non-binary. I was expected to be a girlie girl. Expected to be lady-like, and feminine. I always felt restricted, confined to an arbitrary set of rules that my brother could ignore. The rules hampered how I could look, behave and also expect from my life. I did as I was told but never accepted it.
Rob’s piece
I’ve always been a sucker for the dramatic and theatrical! Honestly, what’s more over-the-top than the royal court dresses of the 17/1800’s? Put another way, it’s one part Barbra Streisand in “Hello Dolly” and one part spare toilet-paper-cover Barbie, who reigned supreme on the back of my childhood ‘throne’.
This entire garment is made from hundreds of painstakingly hand-cut pieces of paper, layered one by one. And the paper? Pages from my childhood reading books. Yes, I literally shredded the so-called tools of oppression—those books that tried to mold me into a “good boy.”
As a final flair, I added a paper ‘ruby slipper’ peeking out from under the hem of the massive hoop skirt. I poured so much of myself into this piece and I sure wish I could’ve worn it!
Karen’s piece
I grew up during punk. In the UK this was an era of removing the boundaries between colours and genders. Our generation didn’t want what had gone on before.
But I was stuck with my parents’ antiquated ideas of what a girl should be. None of it was positive, none of it was good for me. It was oppressive. To even hint at not being OK with it would not have been tolerated. I didn’t rebel, I just bided my time.
This figure is built from items I could never have worn at the time. The boots are my own, a gift to myself. The T-shirt, trousers and garbage bag jacket were specially constructed.
Rob’s crime board
The ‘crime board’ I created is a visual investigation into the defining moments of my childhood. Each core memory & source of inspiration is layered over a vintage map of Ontario, charting my journey from my home town to the big city—a symbolic migration toward self-discovery. You’ll also find the inspirations behind the dress on display, alongside my childhood flashcards featuring words that capture the narrative of my youth.
Scattered across the board are photos of me in all my young homo-terrific glory. As a young boy, it was this “queerness” that I learned to cloak as best I could. Sadly, dismantling this thin veneer of shame has been the work of my entire adult life!
Karen’s crime board
My crime board was a mixture of ways women and young girls are portrayed in the media and the images of people I wanted to emulate.
There was no shortage of ads that either shame women for simply being human, or worse, dress up underage girls to make them desirable. The disparity between how women and men look in ads is shocking. Next time you see an ad, ask yourself if you can imagine the genders being reversed.
There were plenty of role models for how I could look. Plenty of gender bending adults to show how it could be done. People like Bowie (of course), Annie Lennox, Tilda Swinton, Pete Burns and Grace Jones. People who played with gender while looking elegant.