The Past Presents: Xadie James
The kind of art that I make is all time based, it’s experienced over a period of time: you watch a film, you listen to a track, you watch a performance. I think there is so much art in the timing and the way that events unfold. All those little details mean a lot... you’re letting something blossom and decay. You’re letting something go through a full cycle.
I love classical music—love arranged and prepared music in general. It’s an important thing to me. Classical music is so historically coded white. It’s a very white, man-centric thing. But when you actually dig into the history of it, there’s a lot of composers that are not. There’s a lot of misconception with that, and it has to do with this weird historical framing. And finally, we’re changing programs. We have a long way to go with that—the world is very old school. But there’s also this resurgence; people are becoming a lot more interested in classical music. So now, you’re seeing a lot more music composed by women, or composers of South America and other parts of the world that aren’t Europe and the United States. And I think that’s a really beautiful thing and really necessary.
I teach an afterschool orchestra program. I wear dresses and stuff to work and—I don’t get any hate at work—but I get a lot of comments from younger children especially, like, why are you wearing a dress? These kids are so young that you wouldn’t expect them to have these ideas already formed, but they do, and it’s because they haven’t seen that. I think it’s really important to me as I get older to have younger generations in my life. I think it’s a flaw not to. Kids that are growing up right now have a completely different experience from when I was a child. For example, I have several students who are experimenting with they/them pronouns and being non-binary. I have kids that are young — they don’t identify as a boy or a girl. I think having an adult who has a similar experience around is really affirming. It’s just nice because it just feels like we’re all just people experiencing things, there isn’t this favoritism. That kind of representation wasn’t really around when I was that age, you know? And if I were to have any sort of gender non-conformity when I was that age, it would have been a serious problem... These conversations are happening, and they’re happening everywhere. It’s not just in Denver or bigger cities; it’s very much happening everywhere. It’s like ok, trans kids exist and always have.
And obviously, we have a lot of work to do, but seeing that happen and seeing it open up and having those conversations is really fulfilling—the kids are alright, you know what I mean? They’re so thoughtful and they have such a different lens. The way that they’re experiencing the world is so much different. One of the beautiful things about getting older is your experience grows so much. If you found art that you’re really really into, that experience gets so much richer.
