The Leather Diaries and the Rise and Fall of Rocket Queen

In the midst of doing my Master’s degree, I created an alternate persona for myself. She belongs to a tribe of edgy women, and explores various aspects of self in relation to past and present narratives of fandom. Fandom is a subculture of fans that share a common interest, in this case heavy metal. Since 2014, I’ve framed my alternate identity in the art world. For this paper and my art and graduate work she is Rocket Queen [ET]. Her desire to relive becoming Youth Gone Wild is a desperate attempt to escape the inevitable: mortality. Rocket Queen and Rocket Queen [ET] - my persona name - is a fantasy character acting in a type of large social drama or my own rock drama where we can witness the rise and fall of rebellious women. Rocket Queen [ET] takes her adventures through a series of art making in the form of rock posters stapled up around the city of Calgary, Alberta as interventions, installations using concert lights and leather reconfigured to appear in the tradition of objects/wall paintings. My aim is to understand and disrupt gender expectations and to signify homologous and heterogeneous characteristics, while aestheticizing and fetishizing the coded material of heavy metal culture. Leather remains a powerful masculine signifier in heavy metal and is prominent in my artwork. It carries with it a history of objectification and sex along with other meanings and histories. In my thesis project I explore the predominately male subculture as “other” and from the perspective of a female, a fan, someone engaging the genre not in London but in the Canadian prairies, and as an artist. My media comprise paintings, mock paintings, drawings, sculptures, photographs, theatrical lights, paper posters, civic interventions and gallery installations. I am identifying with this subculture and its feelings of empowerment and freedom, while simultaneously being isolated from its core as a player.