Dante Fuoco is a queer artist & educator working toward an MFA in poetry at Virginia Tech, where he teaches undergrad composition and creative writing. She is the writer and performer of two solo shows, Transplant and SEAL, and is the former managing editor of the minnesota review. Their poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in DIAGRAM, Poets.org, Exposition Review, and elsewhere. Since graduating from Swarthmore College in 2012, Dante has worked in and around education, in a variety of roles, including: elementary special ed teacher, restorative justice facilitator for young people and adults, therapeutic crisis intervention trainer, non-profit program manager, and swim coach for an LGBTQIA+ adult swim team.
photos by Desdemona Dallas
artist statement // I am the only child of newspaper journalists; my "true identity" did not "come out" until I was 26. Armed with this queer lineage, I make art that interrogates Truth—not simply uncovering what's been recorded but excavating what's been silenced, and why. My work is always gay, often femme, usually autobiographical, and rarely just one medium; it can involve any combination of solo performance, playwriting, poetry, improv/sketch comedy, clown, video art, and dance. Lately, my eagerness to puncture heteronormative stories—what they say and how they're said—has meant amplifying the pleasures of living as Girl (knowing full well I pass as Boy) who has Gay Sex (I'm still not dead, still not in hell). My burgeoning disobedience has also led me to repurpose otherwise fraught archives from my 90s/aughts upbringing. Whether digging through personal records (my family's home videos, my own email account) or pop culture time capsules (Anna Nicole Smith interviews, news about botched gender reveal stunts), I am committed to composting harm—to having my art live as queer mulch.