T J Bacon

CHTHONIC (2019). Photo courtesy of Hellen Burrough

Dr T J Bacon (she/they) is a trans-femme pansexual person with hidden disabilities. Her practice as an artist-philosopher foregrounds transgender studies, queer theory, crip theory and queer phenomenology to consider visual art, performance art, activism and curation. She has exhibited internationally for over 20 years and is also the founder and artistic director of Tempting Failure.

Dr T J Bacon's first monograph, An Introduction to the Phenomenology of Performance Art, initially published in 2022 and rereleased as a paperback by Intellect UK and Chicago University Press in 2024, interrogates the experience and perception of self/s within the context of performance art practice. It features exercises to activate your practice, and clear introductory definitions to key phenomenological terms Dr T J Bacon's second major title, The Phenomenology of Blood in Performance Art, is co-edited with Dr. Chelsea Coon, and is due for release in 2024 through Routledge. Featuring contributions from renowned scholars and artists such as ORLAN, Marina Abramovic, Prof Robert Mock, Hermann Nitsch, Franko B, Prof Amber Mussar, Dr Lynn Lu, Ron Athey, Jelili Atiku, Paola Paz Yee, Mike Parr, Poppy Jackson, Dr Raegan Truax, Niya B, Andre Molodkin, Dr Ernst Fischer, Victor Martinez Diaz, Rufus Elliot, Dr Mirabelle Jones, Louis Fleischauer and many more. This book includes 13 of Dr Bacon’s own contributions. Notably, this features her paper, "The Fluidity or Transmutability of Borders Held in the Lived Body of Trans and Non-Binary Bodies" which applies a social science perspective to queer phenomenological concerns, particularly in disaster-informed studies, for transgender lives.

i. Hung Body '20 (2020) Ph. courtesy of T J Bacon
ii. The Lived Body REDUX (2014). Photo courtesy of Ceri Winrow

Dr T J Bacon (she/they), born in 1980, has exhibited artwork internationally for over 20+ years. From 2001 to 2008, this work spanned writing, theatre direction, public interventions, club performances, live art, cabaret, and visual art. From 2009, refining their craft through experimentation she began focusing on solo practices in noise and performance art, exploring phenomenological perception, researching and establishing the notion of a multiplicity of self/s, while her curatorial, directorial, and producing work delved into themes of risk and failure.

In 2012, she founded Tempting Failure, an international performance art festival that has supported over 800 artists. By 2017, her solo practice started to align with her understanding of her gender identity, sexuality, and disabilities. Unpacking indoctrination from growing up under the UK’s oppressive Section 28 law, which had erased queer representation in education, deeply impacted her formative years, delaying her self-acceptance and exploration until much later in life.

From 2017 to 2019, her solo work helped her navigate, express, and reclaim her identity, embracing a queer phenomenological approach to her perception. Between 2020 and 2023 her live practice transitioned to include painting and sculpture, alongside ongoing academic and multimodal writing. During this period, she became more comfortable with her trans-femme identity, pansexuality, and disabilities. Today, her interdisciplinary practice spans performance art, visual art, and curation; it engages with transgender studies, queer theory, crip theory, and queer phenomenology. Despite facing personal and systemic adversity and being the victim of incidents of hate crime for living her life as herself, her current work explores hope amid oppression. She advocates for a radically queer reimagining of traditional phenomenology, curation and academia. And, through the lens of queer acts of hope, she explores transdisciplinary practices that move beyond trauma, while acknowledging its existence and the oppressions that cause it, to advocate for positive possibilities for the future.

Discover more on T J’s website
Read more about Tempting Failure

Note: Dr T J Bacon will join Transart Institute from September 2024.