A Manifesto of Living Self-portraiture (Identity, Transformation, and Performance)

Abstract

In an era when blogging, Facebook, and Twitter are more and more becoming the ubiquitous means of expression for an entire generation, The Manifesto of Living Self-portraiture illuminates the potential and power of self-representation through the highly personal art practice of queer transsexual Nina Arsenault. Arsenault's unfolding creative work begins with the documentation of her sixty cosmetic procedures which transformed her body into a 36D-28-42 self-portrait of hyperfemininity. Her subsequent numerous nightlife appearances, photo shoots, videos, and theatrical performances chart the trajectory of her constant and perpetual transformations and by inference illuminate cultural values of beauty, sexuality, and the power of spirituality. Furthermore, Arsenault's discipline incorporates voice/breath/body training, contemporary self-help manuals, and ongoing research into art and mythology to vivify herself as living Goddess archetypes. Arsenault's life as self-portraiture, created at the nexus point of fantasy and reality, becomes a sacred drama of transfiguration in a society which seeks to minimize her passion and pathologize her identity.