Off the subway one day, I was looking…

Looking for the perfect dress. As someone else might primp for an event—what to wear for an opening, a party, a wedding? —I dress for videos. In the same way as searching for the perfect frock for a once-in-a-lifetime occasion, I look for the perfect dress for a one-time-only shoot.

Color, form, texture, movement. How the piece will “pop.” Determining the color palette of the architectural setting in combination with what I will be wearing is an integral part of the process in structuring my installations and videos.

“Standing Here,” my contribution at the Whitney, focuses on a woman in a red and white polka dotted dress. The perfect dress…

“Drag” (made for the Highlights) no longer uses the dress as a dress; it is a material, a color, a form. It is wrapped around a generous male volunteer (Ishmael Randall Weeks)—no longer exhibiting the specific female characteristics it has in “Standing Here.” It has become something else, totally transformed, gender neutral, material.

A dress can make the girl. It also can make the boy.