Mary Coble

The seriousness of intolerance that I see in our society is one of the driving forces that leads me to create work. I want to challenge people to re-evaluate overly simplified and narrow understandings of a much more expansive reality…

Works, bio and selected press

explores the blurred gender boundaries of the drag king and the androgyne in her videos and photographs. Her unsparing iconic presentation of an anonymous torso with duct-taped breasts and stuffed underwear is an image both confrontational and elegant. The evocation of physical pain and concealed body parts mirrors the emotional pain and secret lives that many trans-gendered or ambisexual individuals endure.

The crowd at Mary Coble’s performance, "Note to Self," was like an evangelical youth group gathering. Along the wall opposite Coble sat a chatty group—not the typical opening-night gallery-goers, but rather younger people. More vibrant and distracted, vibrating really, probably drawn to the space by community forum buzz and word of mouth…