She Gone Rogue

The film looks forward and backwards at an imagined and real trans narrative, coalescing time and space as a means to talk about an invisible history, a self-preserving community, intergenerational relationships, aging, love, and chosen families. —Zackary Drucker & Rhys Ernst

Drucker and Ernst co-wrote She Gone Rogue in a small hotel in Desert Hot Springs, CA, and the ensuing production process was entirely collaborative. The narrative follows the magical journey of “Darling” (played by Drucker) who enters a parallel world through a hole in her wall. She chases a mirrored version of herself through the forest and arrives in a country cottage with her real-life parents. Her odyssey continues as she encounters several characters played by legendary matriarchs in the community of trans-women. Folded into the video’s rich visuals and haunting soundtrack are scenes of implied violence. Finally, Darling awakes in a wind-blown desert. Here, the voiceover conveys a culminating moment of self-discovery:

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.