Saturday 31 August – Sunday 3 November 2019 | The Channel 

Image: Photograph courtesy of James Farley.

“We're all born naked / and the rest is drag” - Rupaul

In an age of identity theft, identity politics, gender fluidity, imposter syndrome, finstas and rinstas, celebrity influencers, phishing, catfishing and fake news, there has never been an easier time to present yourself to the world as whoever you want to be, while simultaneously having no idea of who you are at all.

The disconnect between how we view ourselves, how we represent ourselves to others and how others view us creates a space where control is lost, resistance is possible and there are good times to be had ... if you know who you want to be, have a safe space to explore it and a community to be part of.

If you call yourself something for long enough and other people call you it for long enough you might come to believe it whether it is true or not.

In 1845 a newspaper advertisement seeking news of Roger Tichborne prompted Wagga butcher Thomas Castro to imagine (or remember) his life as a member of the aristocracy and the great fortunes that were his to inherit. By all accounts the transition from Castro to Tichborne was a rough one, even with Tichborne's mother's claim that Castro was indeed her long lost son, not all were convinced.

Castro/Tichborne wound up in a bitter contest for the estate, a historic perjury trial, prison and a pauper's grave ... with the plaque on his coffin engraved: Roger Tichborne

Claimant documents the artist's attempts to understand the actions of Thomas Castro through a series of performances for camera.

During the exhibition period, the artist will also perform a durational work in The Channel space.