Hudson performs at Venice Biennale exhibition

By Danielle Harrison

Smoke Signals editor

When Grand Ronde Tribal member Anthony Hudson was a youth growing up in Keizer, he never dreamed that one day he’d be performing as his alter-ego, drag clown Carla Rossi, on a world stage.  

But that’s exactly what happened after Hudson was asked to be the drag clown in residence representing the American delegation at the 60th Venice Biennale in Venice, Italy. The Biennale is an international art exhibition often described as “the Olympics of the art world,” and participation in the event is considered a prestigious moment for contemporary artists.  

“It (The U.S. Pavilion) was really a celebration of what it means to be Indigenous and what it means to be queer,” Hudson said. “It was just astounding for everybody to get to be a part of all of this in such a historic moment.”

Hudson is a multidisciplinary artist and writer best known as Portland’s premier drag clown Carla Rossi and his play “Looking for Tiger Lily,” which follows his quest to find validation as a Native artist and be at peace with a confused identity. He was profiled in the Nov. 1, 2019, edition of Smoke Signals.

He was invited to Venice by Indigenous artist Jeffrey Gibson (Choctaw and Cherokee), whom he knew from past artwork performance collaborations together.

According to information on the Biennale website, Gibson has “forged an interdisciplinary practice and hybrid visual language that draws from American, Indigenous and queer histories, with references to popular subcultures, literature and global artistic traditions.”

Gibson’s U.S. Pavilion included newly produced multimedia sculptures, mixed-media paintings, murals, a multichannel video installation and an exterior installation.  

“The next thing I knew I was in all these meetings with Jeffrey’s studio, the curators from the art museum and the folks that were organizing the whole gig,” Hudson said. “They were telling me, ‘You’re going to be the drag clown in residence, you’re going to come as Carla and you’re going to host our opening dinner because we’re going to host a big dance party with Honey Dijon.’ I just couldn’t believe it.”  

Honey Dijon is an American DJ, producer and electronic musician who has most recently toured with Madonna and performed internationally at clubs, festivals, art fairs, galleries and fashion events.

Hudson spent the week of April 14-21 immersing himself in all things Italian and attending various parties and other Biennale events as Carla, who had several outfits to complement the theme of whatever she was hosting that night. One outfit was meant to emulate the “Italian starlet look,” inspired by Murano glass, which is produced in Venice. Another was an outfit inspired by Lara Croft in the video game “Tomb Raider,” which Hudson has loved since he was young. It’s also a nod to various museums “scrambling to repatriate items back to our culture,” he said.

In addition to Hudson, poet Layli Long Soldier (Oglala Lakota) and musician Laura Ortman (White Mountain Apache) were selected to activate the artwork during the opening reception dance party.

“It was just incredible,” Hudson said. “On top of that, Jeffrey and his team brought out 30 jingle dress dancers and drummers to perform in the pavilion, and it was just an entire Indigenous takeover in Italy, the land of Columbus. I was thinking of all of those times in Europe when they shipped Natives there to show us off but this time we were doing it on our grounds and all together. It was all to celebrate who we are. It was a massive celebration of Indigenous culture just for our sakes. It was so cool.”

Hudson added that while there were several other pavilions at the Biennale that featured “incredible” Indigenous artwork, many were focused on stories of pain, colonization and trauma.

“Jeffrey referenced those histories in his artwork but his pavilion was just a psychedelic explosion of color, a celebration of what it means to be Indigenous, what it means to be queer,” Hudson said. “I didn’t know what I was stepping into but I don’t think I realized I was going to have what felt was the ultimate moment in my career: To get to show up and get off the water taxi onto a red carpet and then to host this night full of Indigenous people.”

He added, “I just decided to be myself. They hired me to be the drag clown in residence and so I was a clown. I was funny but also got to represent my Tribe and get up there and say, ‘I’m an Indigiqueer drag clown.’ I got to wear a necklace that was gifted to me by Cultural Resources and wear a two-spirit necklace there. It felt good to represent and to get to pay tribute to where I come from and our communities, and to be doing it in this place that I never, ever thought I would be in a million years.”

Hudson said the most powerful moment for him came when the drummers and dancers came into the pavilion and “brought it to life,” but the most memorable time for him came during the dance party with Honey Dijon. 

“It was just a night of pure joy where you had all of those dancers, you had all of my favorite Native artists and they were partying with everyone else and being together,” he said. “I literally started crying happy tears because everything I had been through was for that moment.”

Hudson served as one of the Grand Ronde Tribe’s first Indigenous Place Keeping Artist Fellows in 2022 and was one of 23 Native American artists to receive a $7,500 cash award through the First Peoples Fund’s Artists in Business Leadership and Cultural Capital Fellowship program in 2021.

He and Carla have performed at places including the Portland and Seattle art museums, the Vancouver Queer Film Festival, the 2019 Portland Biennial and the Yirramboi Festival in Melbourne, Australia, before their whirlwind trip to Venice.