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In Conversation with Multi-Media Performance Artist Alexis O'Hara
Alexis O'Hara sits across the table sipping tea and flips her long, wavy hair from one side to the other. In one instant, her look is feminine and chic. In the next, a deep side shave reveals a different facet of her presence altogether. Her asymmetrical do isn't that unusual, but when the server comes to the table and O'Hara turns her head, only the side shave is in view. The long waves are gone, and suddenly O'Hara's drag king persona, Guizo LaNuit, is with us.
Though this quick gesture wasn't made as part of a performance, it's emblematic of the space O'Hara occupies as an interdisciplinary artist. Her work combines elements of cabaret, pop music, sound art, spoken-word, stand-up comedy, vocals and electronics, photography and installation. O'Hara has a dynamic, 20-year history of art making and performance. She has published a book of poetry and has released several solo albums of music. She is an outspoken and engaged mainstay on the Montreal arts scene, and her work has been presented at galleries, festivals and other events throughout Canada, in the U.S., in Europe and in Latin America.
Guizo LaNuit is a performance role O'Hara describes as "gender confusion cabaret" or "pathos, music and comedy." She began performing as Guizo in 2002. He is a charming trilingual persona who speaks and sings in English, French and Spanish, as well as in combinations of all three.
"It wasn't until around 2010 when Guizo became a going concern," she says. He sports a fantastic bouffant and talks inappropriately about sex, longing and desire. Yet it all seems apropos, like Guizo's devoted following. The trilingual aspect of O'Hara's performances lends itself to wordplay, and jokes marked by the coming together of mother tongues.
Collaboration with other artists is central to O'Hara's work. She co-founded GuiGi, the world's first drag king-drag queen medley band, along with transdisciplinary artist Stephen Lawson. Their first gig was in 2013 at a friend's retirement party. GuiGi features Guizo LaNuit on ukulele and vocals and Lawson, who performs as drag queen Gigi L'amour, on synths and vocals. Since...