ERICA MCKEEHEN

“I express the lives of individuals who embrace gender and sexuality as fluid social constructs and celebrate local burlesque which creates a powerful space on stage for all identities and bodies to be fully seen.”

— Erica McKeehen

Despite how they employ sex into performance, the subjects in Show & Tell also illustrate the range of inherently performative and nuanced -- but no less valuable -- roles they take on in both public and private spaces, made visible though our collaboration and provoked by my camera. Drawing from my experiences as a burlesque performer and sex worker, my work encourages deeper understanding and open conversation about sex work as legitimate work as well as an elaborate, skilled act that can imbue artistry and empower those who do or witness it. I lean on the highly descriptive nature of photography to make images that illuminate and expand trite notions of people, especially femmes, who are often villainized for their sexual autonomy. I express the lives of individuals who embrace gender and sexuality as fluid social constructs and celebrate local burlesque which creates a powerful space on stage for all identities and bodies to be fully seen.

Erica McKeehen (b. 1987) is an American artist who was raised on Coca-Cola and rock n’ roll in Bucyrus, Ohio. She re-located to Chicago in 2010 and has not looked back since. McKeehen is a local burlesque performer and producer alongside her visual practice. She received her BS from Ohio University, her MA in Arts Management from Columbia College Chicago, and she is currently an MFA candidate at Columbia College Chicago. She also works as a Curatorial and Collections Assistant at the Museum of Contemporary Photography and as a Teaching Assistant in the Photography Department.