Artist Biography:

Long ago Tina Starr fell from space and landed in the ocean, making her the one and only galactic mermaid. But then people stopped believing in magic, so Starr crawled out of the deep blue waters to try to make a life for herself passing as a mere human. Needless to say she didn’t seem very human and so she began to create as a form of expression. Starr works in performance art, fine art photography and video art that explores notions of feminism, ideas of beauty, the gendered body, identity, domestic violence and sexual assault. She seeks to reconceive the ideas society has placed on us as a culture. 

Starr received her BFA in Fine Art Photography for the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire in 2008 and her MFA in Imaging Arts from Rochester Institute of Technology in 2013. She was a part of the Yards Collective, an art collective/ studio space that organizes different art events within the community of Rochester, NY from 2014 – 2018 and she has served as vice president from late 2015. She ran all social media, advertising and marketing for the Yards, as well as the being in the art collective’s. Further, Starr was chief photographer, videographer and graphic designer. She is one of the founding members of the Politits Art Coalition, which is a grassroots feminist art group that exhibits work together in art exhibitions, pop-up shows, and facilitates in community events. When she isn’t creating, Starr works as an educator, photographer, graphic designer, and videographer. 

Artist Statement:

Starr’s work focuses on issues of identity, beauty, the body, performance, issues of domestic violence and sexual assault. Her work is comprised of photography, video art and live performance. The still image often confronts the idea of the male gaze by replacing it with the female gaze. The video work addresses more serious topics and expresses genuine emotion; all video pieces are done in one take. Finally,Starr feels that live performance is the most confrontational way of addressing these issues and fully the most genuine way to expresses herself myself as the art and the artist. She reclaims herself from the male gaze and turns her female gaze back onto the audience.

When a person chooses a role in opposition to that which is traditionally prescribed to them, there is a shift. In this shift, Starr attempts to reconcile her role as both creator and creation. She uses popular culture tropes as an element in her work's aesthetic, bridging fine art concepts with the everyday experience. Starr aims with her work to show the ridiculous nature of the outside factors that influence our personae and how, especially for women, the ritual of beauty has become an unending, damaging cycle. Her work now has evolved to deal with issues of domestic violence and sexual assault, which addresses issues of pain, trauma and recovery.

Stay tuned to find out where Starr lands in her next move and upcoming art exhibitions!