Holly Hughes Essay Example

Holly Hughes is an American performance artist and painter from New York City. She began her career as a feminist painter before getting involved with Women's One World Cafe (Wow Cafe) in the 1980s. She is among the first students that attended the New York Feminist Art Institute. The institute was an experiment started by members of the Heresies Collective (Holly Hughes n.p). Heresies collective is a group of feminist political artists. She is also a Professor at the School of Art and Design at the University of Michigan. Hughes continues to produce works that explore the troubled fault lines of identity. Her works explore sexuality, body images, and the female mind. Her use of poetry and political satire gained massive recognition in the American culture wars.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Some of Hughes' earliest performances include My Life as a Glamour. The objective of the performance was to explore the various mistakes in fashion. That was Hughes' first performance which she followed up with another performance Shrimp in a Basket. Hughes career in performance art was gaining momentum, and she was keen to keep up the display. In 1987 she directed and performed in Dress Suits to Hire, which tells the story of two women who live in the lobby of a rental shop. The play explores the issues of masturbation, sexuality, and Jesus (Hughes, Holly, et al.). She later produced her most famous work called Clit notes. The play addresses some of the issues that Hughes faced as a child and as a young adult. The piece is essentially Hughes trying to understand the events that shaped her life. Hughes is also a writer of various works such as O Solo Homo: The New Queer Performance. Other than the first monologue of Clit Notes, Hughes usually takes on roles where she plays a character other than herself (Jacobs n.p). She usually takes on multiple roles as part of her working process. More often than not, those roles are directive and performance roles which allows her to manipulate the performance and the interaction that occur between the other artists in the play.

Holly Hughes is quite a controversial figure in the world of theatre because of her philosophy. At one point she was denied funding by the National Endowment for the Arts(NEA) because of her philosophies. Hughes was exploring topics that were controversial at the time. The issues of homosexuality and subjugation of women were areas that most people were not willing to address. Hughes is also a strong supporter of women rights and same-sex relationships. In an interview with Paste, Hughes talked about her objection for President Donald Trump policies that she described as anti-progressive (Hughes n.p).

There is no doubt about Hughes' importance in theatre. She was exploring controversial issues when most artists in her time were avoiding. Her techniques although deemed extreme by some, caused artists to seek active involvement in the daily issues that affect the society. Hughes career has evolved from a painter to a performance artist and writer, and recently she has added activism into the list. By combining these attributes of art, she has provided an avenue for homosexuals, women and minority groups to speak about their plight. Her 'Not My President Day' demonstration was an example of artistry and activism combining to address the issues in American society. As a professor, she is teaching a new wave of performance artists that can take over from her as her career in performance art approaches its twilight years. She has made the world of theatre more than just an avenue for entertainment.

Works Cited

Hughes, Holly, et al. "Dress Suits to Hire: A Collaboration between Holly Hughes, Peggy Shaw, and Lois Weaver." TDR (1988-), vol. 33, no. 1, 1989, pp. 132-152. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1145950.

Hughes, Holly. Party Like It's Not My President's Day Leah Rosenzweig. Paste, 20 February 2017. Website. <https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2017/02/bad-and-nasty-presents-not-my-presidents-day.html>.

Jacobs, Tom. Clit Notes. 1 September 1993. Website. 2018 November 2018. <https://variety.com/1993/legit/reviews/clit-notes-1200433489/>.

Holly Hughes. 2018. The University of Michigan. Website. 13 November 2018. <https://stamps.umich.edu/people/detail/holly_hughes>.