They Say There Are No Spirits

“Since 1995 Theo Jean Cuthand has produced roughly thirty-five video works, o@en informed by a queer D.I.Y. tradiIon, and o@en deparIng from the first person. In these works, he frequently posiIons himself with extensive “I am ...” statements, yet these statements aren’t meant to construct a staIc idenIty—they hold specific Ies with a kind of non-linear Ime that is in contact with Indigenous ancestry as much as it responds to quesIons of locality. In regard to intersecIng vectors of oppression, it is usually presumed that the various aspects of a person’s idenIty are stable and that their specific intersecIons can be analyzed along solid markers of belonging such as class, race, gender, ability, and so forth. These noIons become profoundly destabilized when reconsidered through Cuthand’s prolific pracIce. In their generosity, his video works offer deep insights into the necessarily unfinished business of building, understanding, and negoIaIng one’s own sense of idenIty.”—Vika Kirchenbauer