Clubbing

In her own words, Gutierrez is "driven to question how identity is formed, expressed, valued, and weighed as a woman, as a transwoman, as a Latinx woman, as a woman of Indigenous descent, as a femme artist and maker." Through videos, photographs, performances, installations, and self-released albums and magazines, she incisively plays with stereotypes and their repeated commodification.
 
Clubbing explores the coding and performance of gender binaries in a scene of multiple selves sharing an otherworldly space that blends fantasy and reality. Gutierrez claims total control of every aspect of her projects, including Clubbing, taking on all the roles in front of and behind the camera. From the painted-on eyes to the sixties' mod costumes to the addictive groove that gets these bodies moving, it all comes back to Gutierrez, alone in her studio, aiming to create a welcoming world for all.
 
Though on first glance she appears to present heterosexual pairings, Gutierrez's layered drag performances open a kaleidoscope of queer possibility. Filmed through gauze, the hazy indefinability of the locale evokes the idea of queer nightclubs as utopian zones, havens from a dangerously divisive society, since utopia means "no place" in Greek. Celebrating the joys found there, Clubbing stands as an ode to the creativity and liberation of dance floors and their importance as places for self-discovery, interpersonal harmony, and nonconformist community building.

Musical Thinking: New Video Art and Sonic Strategies, 2023