Show & Tell: Records and Reflections on Burlesque in Chicago (photo essay, Sixty Inches from Center, 2024)

In this photo essay and interview series, multi-disciplinary artist Erica McKeehen and members of Chicago’s burlesque community reflect on the meaning and importance of burlesque in their life, their fellow performers lives, and its story within the city of Chicago.

Beginning in my childhood, set in rural central Ohio, I developed a lifelong fascination with glamorous icons. When I trace the origins of these obsessions, I recall fond childhood memories of collecting Marilyn Monroe Barbies, postcards, and calendars after seeing Ashley Judd’s portrayal of her in “Norma Jean & Marilyn” (1996). Living in a small town, without easy access to galleries, museums, or theaters, I watched TV, rented movies, and read my dad’s music magazines to explore creative curiosities. Eventually, Monroe’s iconic image plastered the walls of my childhood bedroom that I shared with my older sister, Shannon, patching areas of peeling wallpaper. Later in my pre-teens, I similarly adored Madonna’s provocative music videos and live performances. I was infatuated with depictions of these unapologetic, fabulous women. I aspired to one day author my own body and proudly flaunt my sexuality in the ways that they did. Their larger-than-life personas transported me to a vibrant, exciting place of possibility.

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Provocative Play: The Power Of Chicago Burlesque (curatorial essay, 2022)

“Burlesque has transformed my life by allowing me to assert myself as the author of my sensuality. It has allowed me to express myself through something that would, in most other contexts, be weaponized against me, which in turn makes me feel more safe and protected in the world.”  — Zahradka Tonic, Chicago Burlesque Performer 

Today’s world of burlesque bends society’s norms and celebrates personal empowerment while addressing feminism, performance of gender, and DIY culture in resoundingly vibrant ways. Community and collaboration are pillars in the Chicago burlesque scene, centered on inclusivity and acceptance. Women and non-binary people have reshaped burlesque, both in the creation of performances and as primary audiences, exuberantly cheering along to every peel and reveal. 

Provocative Play: The Power of Chicago Burlesque celebrates contemporary Chicago burlesque, showcasing the skill and depth of five of the city’s prominent performers. Ruby Spencer and Sally Marvel use their dazzling charms to celebrate the aesthetics and the spectacles of live performance, while Zahradka Tonic, Cruel Valentine, and Crocodile Lightning employ performance art to confront broader social issues. 

These performers have changed the conversation around the art of burlesque, engaging us directly with commanding eye contact and communicating power over what they want their bodies to mean to us. Ultimately, they construct and control their projected self-image. There is a confident solidness about their statures, the gravity of bodies unafraid of inhabiting space on their own terms. 

Featuring over 70 images from primarily Chicago photographers, Provocative Play captures the performative nature of the scene, from the documentation of live acts to the creation of artfully staged pin-up shots. As burlesque continues to blur the lines of gender and sexuality and to deconstruct boundaries, it is my hope that displaying these striking images in a gallery, rather than a club or theater, further erases the line between the public and private performance of the powerful and erotic. 

Provocative Play highlights the role of burlesque in the Chicago entertainment landscape as both a performance art and a subculture. Amid a global pandemic that closed local bar and theater venues, the show goes on for burlesque performers who are producing and performing in virtual shows, recording and documenting their performances, and finding paid subscription platforms to host their photo and video content permanently. Performers in Chicago are also reaching new audiences by collaborating with artists from other states and countries. Artists within the community have been working tirelessly to overcome the financial burdens set upon them by the realities of COVID-19, examining novel ways to keep their art relevant and exciting in virtual spaces. 

In a time also defined by re-examining racial tension and struggle, burlesque in Chicago has undergone challenges — and the scene has shifted and changed in a brief time to address concerns of racism and inequality within the community. 

Burlesque’s exploration of identity, glamour, and performance is a recurring conversation in the art world, and burlesque is an art form that responds to the culture of its time throughout history. Provocative Play is an entry into that conversation on behalf of Chicago. 

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