I Want a President
Zoe Leonard, I Want a President, 1992, ink on onionskin paper, Museum Purchase: Funds provided by the Contemporary Art Council, © unknown, research required, 2018.85.1
This work is not currently on view.
- Title
I Want a President
- Artist
- Date
1992
- Medium
ink on onionskin paper
- Edition
edition of 100
- Dimensions (H x W x D)
sheet: 11 in x 8 1/2 in
- Inscriptions & Markings
text transcription: I want a dyke for president. I want a person // with aids for president and I want a fag for // vice president and I want someone with no // health insurance and I want someone who grew // up in a place where the earth is so saturated // with toxic waste that they didn't have a // choice about getting leukemia. I want a // president that had an abortion at sixteen and // I want a candidate who isn't the lesser of two // evils and I want a president who lost their // last lover to aids, who still sees that in // their eyes every time they lay down torest [sic], // who held their lover in their arms and knew // they were dying. I want a president with no // airconditioning [sic], a president who has stood on // line at the clinic, at the dmv, at the welfare // office and has been unemployed and layed off and // sexually harrassed and gaybashed and deported. // I want someone who has spent the night in the // tombs and had a cross burned on their lawn and // survived rape. I want someone who has been in // love and been hurt, who respects sex, who has // made mistakes and learned from them. I want a // Black woman for president. I want someone with // bad teeth and an attitude ["and an attitude" crossed out], someone who has // eaten that nasty ["that nasty" crossed out] hospital food, someone who // crossdresses [sic] and has done drugs and been in // therapy. I want someone who has committed // civil disobedience. And I want to know why this // isn't possible. I want to know why we started // learning somewhere down the line that a president // is always a clown: always a john and never // a hooker. Always a boss and never a worker, // always a liar, always a thief and never caught., printed, center
- Collection Area
Modern and Contemporary Art; Graphic Arts
- Category
Conceptual Art
- Object Type
paper
- Culture
American
- Credit Line
Museum Purchase: Funds provided by the Contemporary Art Council
- Accession Number
2018.85.1
- Copyright
© unknown, research required
- Terms
I Want a President was partly inspired by Eileen Myles, a feminist poet and activist who announced she would enter the 1992 Presidential race against George H.W. Bush, Ross Perot, and Bill Clinton. Leonard, a dedicated AIDS activist as well as an artist, also created the work in response to the US government's inaction on the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s and early '90s. It originally existed as a shared photo-copy sent to friends. In the lead up to the 2016 Presidential election, images of the work began to circulate on social media; Leonard was then invited to install a large scale version of the work on the High Line in New York City. In reflecting on the piece's resurgence, Leonard offers a question: "What have we gained and what have we lost in this past 24 years?" The work was, and still is, a real call and a metaphorical one: "It's a question of power, who has it, who has a voice, why are some of us marginalized, while others are ushered in?" she said. I Want a President wrestles with the specificity of discrimination and rests with open-ended questions that urge us to ask difficult questions and engage each other on a human to human level.
