Who was Mark? We know Mark was a Husband, Father, Friend, Patient, and a Musician, despite limited scholarly writing about his life. Created through this absence, Mark is a cinematic, non-linear, historical fiction account of a Trans masculine musician who might have existed. If he existed, Mark was a classically trained clarinetist born in 1920. Mark is composed as a symphony, compromising a chorus of voices depicting Mark simultaneously. Each character represents a movement. We never get to meet Mark, we never hear his point of view. By the time we gain access to his story he has passed away.
Mark becomes the compilation of artifacts that point toward the erasure of Trans History. Historical memory has a way of being easily misrepresented for the purposes of normalization. Memories of trans people have been repeatedly erased from History. Mark generates dissonance by attempting to salvage these memories and reclaim what the archive had previously dissolved. Mark’s personal documents were obsessively produced, constructed and archived in a hopeful attempt to prove that Mark was here. Mark existed. Marks were made. Marks were found.
Mark becomes the compilation of artifacts that point toward the erasure of Trans History. Historical memory has a way of being easily misrepresented for the purposes of normalization. Memories of trans people have been repeatedly erased from History. Mark generates dissonance by attempting to salvage these memories and reclaim what the archive had previously dissolved. Mark’s personal documents were obsessively produced, constructed and archived in a hopeful attempt to prove that Mark was here. Mark existed. Marks were made. Marks were found.
"Identity Measures" (group exhibition), 2019. Installation view with Sarah Hill. ContemporaryArts Center, New Orleans. Photo: Alex Marks