Jerry Blossom will be appearing at the Defibrillator (1136 N Milwaukee) for Kokorokoko's Video Girls, a burlesque and performance night celebrating the girls of 1980's music videos.
Wednesday, August 8
Doors at 8/ Show at 9
Jerry Blossom is the performance and burlesque alter-ego of artist Kiam Marcelo Junio. Jerry stars in Kiam's ongoing series Model Minority, which explores tensions and interactions of racial and gender identities, specifically between Asian, American, Filipino culture, and in dialogue with contemporary queer and body politics.
About Jerry Blossom:
Jerry Blossom is an Asian person of ambiguous descent. He is often seen wearing a blonde wig, and uses foundation that’s at least 3 shades lighter than his natural skin tone. Outwardly, he seems to be desperately trying to fit in to a Western ideal image of blonde hair and fair skin, and yet he does so critically and consciously. He is not “playing whiteface” or acting as or pretending to be, a white person, but rather, embodying (or failing to embody) the standards of global whiteness.
Jerry is a social chameleon, able to ingratiate himself in the favor of people from varied personalities, gender ambiguities, and social classes. By changing his personality with each encounter, however, “the real Jerry Blossom” remains a mystery.
Jerry is also an entertainer and somewhat of a celebrity in Southeast Asia, and is the current face of Eskinol, a skin lightening facial cleanser popular in the Philippines.
