This morning I had the chance to virtually interact with Mary Maggic, a non-binary artist whose work can be regarded as groundbreaking. Specifically through an event called “We’re All Living in the Estroworld”, Mary Maggic introduced me to the interrelated topics of intersection of hormones, body and gender politics, and ecological alienation.
Before this talk my stance towards these issues was remote and uninformed, thinking that, as an individual who has never struggled with his own sexuality, I was a simple spectator, a witness. This has now changed as I have understood how I am part of the alienated world Mary Maggic talks about. Part of their credo relies on the basis of a 3 step process they came up with, a process that allows us to grow and become better individuals “living in an increasingly queer world” (Mary Maggic [1]). Mary Maggic starts off wanting us to acknowledge the fact that, due to plastic pollution and high toxicity of the environment, we already live in an alien landscape. Plastic has become part of our nature as we ingest it and has reached cells of our bodies that have started a mutation process. Being conscious about this represents the first step of the process. The second step is called Semosis. As a consequence of the first step we already are alien. Mary Maggic, during this morning’s lecture pointed out how humans are in fact as malleable as plastic. The third and final step consists of the question about whether or not we want to become more alien. Mary Maggic wants us to embrace our own malleability in way that brings people together avoiding gender discrimination and inequalities.
Mary Maggic during Zoom Event
Additionally, the artist’s interdisciplinary practice is one of socio-political excavation, “investigating the role of institutional science and biotechnology in the construction of somatic fictions and mass political imaginaries” (Mary Maggic [2]). Mary Maggic wants to escape our current patriarchal society by condemning and shedding light on modern practices of policing bodies.
Drawing upon the concept of public amateurism and Critical Art Ensemble’s notion of “fuzzy biological sabotage,” Mary Maggic’s practice manifests through public participatory workshops and biohacking as critical sites of care, knowledge production and collaborative queerings of the status quo. Thanks to their research they were able to travel the world to further develop their ideas witnessing different realities. During this morning’s event I was particularly struck by a project Mary Maggic carried out in 2019 in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, called “River Gynecology”. After observing how the native population interacts with a dangerously polluted river, that at the same time functions as a fundamental resource citizens heavily rely on, the artist reflects on the polluted landscape of the river and the local population who lives densely and intimately in its watery embrace. “While water is the medium that connects us all, it is also the primary carrier of the industrial molecules, simultaneously queering both the river and the bodies of its inhabitants” (Mary Maggic [2]).
This made me reflect on how people live in the polluted environment as if the latter was a part of their bodies. The toxicity of the landscape does not matter when you are emotionally connected to it. As a result
you become polluted yourself.
Bailey's Butch Queens Up in Pumps
Finally, this morning’s lecture reminded of another author/artist, Marlon Bailey. Bailey, just like Mary Maggic, investigates intersectionality, in other words the overlapping forms of oppression concerning gender discrimination. Bailey in his book Butch Queens Up in Pumps, tells us about the Black Queer Spaces in a way similar to Mary Maggic’s: people create alternative worlds through ritualized practices to escape the toxicity of our patriarchal society.
Citations:
[1] Mary Maggic, We’re All Living in the Estroworld, Virtual Event, 04/22/2022.
[2] Mary Maggic. https://maggic.ooo/About
Bailey, Marlon. Butch Queens Up in Pumps, University of Michigan Press, 2013.
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