Dear Carlee

Dear Carlee,

I’ve been thinking about some of your images, themes and even some of your words (from interviews) and I am both amazed and confused. I wonder about your use of taxidermy as a medium; are they ready-mades? Or perhaps the creation is in your vision, arrangement, and instillation of the different taxidermy objects. I ask these questions as a way of understanding your process and your feelings. I firmly believe that art can be anything; I believe that art can embody contradiction, so I do not question the validity of your work, just the meaning or context to it. I also wonder what you image the reception of your taxidermy art to look like.

I have also been thinking about some things you said in an interview with Howard Fox in 2008. These topics are more sensitive and personal, so I aim to treat them with highest respect. When discussing your photographic series, MAN, you say, “These men, the work that they’ve made, I see that as very powering…my inspiration, my connection to man, my wanting to be more male and how I could portray that…” I am again left with many questions: I wonder about the circumstances around you wanting to be male. Do you mean that in a literal way or is that more of an expression of something else? Does your education of (white) men’s artistic practice and career inform your statement? Does your series MAN discuss your own gendered identity?

Finally, I wonder about your discussion of your mixed heritage as it relates to your identity. Like you, I have one Chicano parent (my father), and that has, at times, been confusing or difficult to negotiate. I have thought about my own identity for years, wondering if I am legit enough to be all of me. Nevertheless, my question is around your participation in the Phantom Sightings exhibition at LACMA. I wonder what the message is around an idea of a Chicano Movement that is now pronounced over. What happens when people who do not identify as Chicana participate in an exhibition that declares that El Movimiento (and Chicano Art) are now only phantoms? What was or is your desire in participating in this show?

Best,

Kaelyn