GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

FEBRUARY 9, 1996

Evenings Out

HEAD

HEART

QUEER

BELLY

PHUY

K

Trusting your body

Two performance artists explore HIV, life, and being queer

by Daniel R. Mullen

"It started in the sixties when visual artists became fed up with making objects," according to Frank Green. "They wanted to create something that existed in time, and when it was over, it was over."

Green is describing performance art, his communication medium of choice for the political statement that crashes the "HIV AIDS = death" paradigm.

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As for social reform, Tim Miller says of their art, “If we don't do it, no one will. We can't trust TV to do it." Indeed, TV wouldn't let a naked gay men affirm his identity and sensuality.

In their stage performances at the Cleveland Public Theatre for the February 22-24 Performing AIDS conference, they will most definitely make their points and probably leave a mark.

Green, a Clevelander and HIV positive since 1988, will perform The Scarlet Letters, which he has taken across the country in the past three years. Interpreting the social symbolism of Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel vithin his perspective on AIDS, Green tells the story of how HIV changed his life and how he changed the eaning of his HIV status. Green's message is a rejection of "HIV AIDS = death."

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The multimedia performance is necessarily “unpleasant... visceral and upsetting," said Green. "I did that ecause that's how I felt at the beginning" after being diagnosed.

The complex piece uses slide projection, super 8 film, and audio. On stage with drop cloths and red paint, "what I'm doing is wallowing in my own blood on the surface of my body,” said Green. With his feet he traces the letters HIV in red as the characters of the classic novel encourage me to explore my body and explore my HIV status.

"The main thing I discover is that I'm healthy even though for the last eight or nine years, since I've been diagnosed, doctors have been telling me I'm sick,” said Green.

His piece is an anti-establishment self-healing ritual. Put trust your own body not in your doctor, the vibrant, energetic man is saying.

People with HIV go in [to their physician],” said Green. “They start measuring their T-cells. They're told they are going to die. They start to believe it. That causes a lot of stress and they start to get sick. They're put on these highly toxic drugs" and it worsens their condition.

If Green is affirming his body's integrity despite HIV, Tim Miller is rejoicing his unashamed queerness in My Queer Body.

An international performer and a teacher of theology, Miller was one of the "NEA 4," a group of artists defunded by the National Endowment for the Arts because their work was deemed too controversial. The Californian has performed in Cleveland only once before, but has for four years taken it off in My Queer Body. Miller performs part of it in the nude. His body parts, head, heart, belly-and other things each tells a story. "If your dick could tell a story, what would it tell?" Miller explains. "It's a real rollercoaster, a wild and interesting journey.

"To me, it's really clear that telling your own story and bringing your voice forward is a crucial part of being integrated as a person, of being whole.

“I think we're in a time where the body is a battleground. Gay men's bodies are probably the most embattled in our culture, said Miller. His piece is a "funny and sexy" reaction against that, "exploring the gay life and the spiritual life around sex.

"We're all raised to hate our bodies and feel bad about them," said Miller, "which includes to some extent straight white men the most empowered body. [The body] is a very fertile ground for us to keep looking at and to know more about." Both men consider Performing AIDS to be a unique opportunity for their talents. "Fifteen years into the epidemic there's an amazing array of strategies, a whole variety of responses to the ongoing challenges of the AIDS crisis," said Miller. "The conference, in a way is exciting to me because it feels like a challenge.. with interesting folks to get at where we are now."

"The medical community is opening itself up to artists and cultural heroes and that's really important," said Green. “I especially think it's great that they're willing to put me on the program given that I challenge the way they think." ✓

Tim Miller's My Queer Body will be perfomed at 8 pm, and Frank Green's The Scarlet Letters at 10 pm on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, February 22-24 at the Cleveland Public Theatre, 6415 Detroit Ave, 216-631-2727.

Tim Milller

Frank Green