Narcissister facts for kids
Narcissister is an American, Brooklyn-based, feminist performance artist, born of Moroccan Jewish and African-American descent. Narcissister's work tends to focus on race and gender, using her slight anonymity to explore such topics controversially. In February 2013, she headlined her first solo gallery. She was a contestant on America's Got Talent. She prefers her identity remain secret.
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Art and performance
Narcissister studied dance at Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York City. She then worked as a window stylist and designer while completing the Whitney Independent Study Program and performing at burlesque shows around New York. She has been known for bridging the gap between past and present feminist art. She has acknowledged previous inspirations like Adrian Piper, Marina Abramović, and Carolee Schneemann.
Her name comes from the combination of "narcissist" and "sister". It alludes to the work she produces, work that lies in the intersection of gender, race, and radical self-acceptance.
Narcissister in the mainstream
In 2011, Narcissister was picked as one of the 30 young artists to recreate the various pieces—specifically the Luminosity piece—from the Marina Abramović retrospective The Artist is Present performance piece at MoMA. These pieces were all recreations of past pieces done by Abramovic throughout her career. In 2011, Narcissister was also asked to be the date of and accompany goth singer Marilyn Manson to various events in California surrounding the screening of his film Born Villain. She currently holds a residency at the downtown club and performance venue The Box Soho.
Work and collaborations
The Beginning - 2014
Narcisisster's use of masks and mannequins was initiated in her first public performance, called The Mannequin. However, according to her that's the only consistent element in her work.
She held an exhibition in New York in 2013 called Narcissister is You. The exhibit showed her unedited video project where willing participants were invited to step behind her famous mask and explore her artistic process in their own way. This exhibit included a sculpture installation as well, which invited spectators to identify with her image presented in the mirror.
As a side project, Narcissister also collaborates musically with the electronic and noise musician EarthMasters, and their first 10-track album, Subliminal Weight Loss, was released in October 2014.
Awards and honors
Narcissister won a Bessie Award in 2013 for her project Organ Player. Two years later, she won a Creative Capital grant for the same project. She was also a recipient of the Theo Westenberger Grant.
