Susan Silton's Loud and Proud Whistle
A Los Angeles exhibition surveys the groundbreaking queer artist's multi-decade career, including her memorable work on the politics of vocal expression.
Susan Silton's four-decade retrospective at the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery showcases her extensive exploration of queerness, illness, the environment, and the politics surrounding these issues. As a conceptual artist, she utilizes various media such as prints, photography, video, installation, and performance. Her work emphasizes inclusivity and community engagement, often being collaborative and participatory.
Before becoming a renowned artist, Silton had already established herself as a graphic designer. Her 1991 political print "Target" critiques a culture that reduces individuals to identity categories, replacing labels of gender, nationality, and sexual orientation with a man's image targeted by bullets. In 1995, she produced "Self Portrait #4" through a series of self-portraits, using an active scanner to distort her face into a malleable substance.
This represents her view that queerness is merely one aspect of a person's identity, capable of being fluid.
Silton also transformed early 20th-century bird illustrations into the series Aviate (1998-2000), resulting in colorful, linear abstractions that symbolize birds flying freely, no longer defined by their behavior or physical characteristics. In 2012, she created "Silver Whistles" from The Whistling Project, featuring six silver-plated bronze masks.
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