Tosh Basco

Basco was born in Sacramento, California, and raised in San Francisco during the 1990s. She began exploring drag early on, and cites performance artist Dia Dear as an early influence.{{Cite web|title=all about the boychild|url=https://i-d.co/article/all-about-the-boychild/|last=Team|first=i-D.|date=2013-11-13|website=i-D|language=en|access-date=2020-05-08}} The boychild persona was first performed publicly in 2012 in San Francisco's drag and nightlife scene.

Basco has noted that although boychild incorporates elements of drag, the character is not intended to be a traditional drag queen. Instead, the work is informed by a variety of cultural sources, including studies of clowns, healers, shamans, and ritual practices.{{Cite web |title=boychild |url=https://www.biennaleofsydney.art/participants/boychild/ |access-date=2022-12-19 |website=Biennale of Sydney |language=en-AU}}

Her performances frequently reference themes such as cyborgs and posthumanism.{{Cite journal |last=Popat |first=Sita |date=2017-07-03 |title=Bodily extensions and performance |journal=International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=101–104 |doi=10.1080/14794713.2017.1358525 |pmc=5720339 |pmid=29226918}}{{Cite journal|last=Haraway|first=Donna|author-link=Donna Haraway|date=1991|title=A Cyborg Manifesto|journal=Artificial Life: Critical Contexts|pages=456}} Some performances are presented as one-time-only events.{{Citation needed|date=April 2025}} Nightlife spaces are often chosen as performance venues, which Basco has described as integral to the context and meaning of her work.{{Cite web |last=Person |first=Hili |date=October 29, 2014 |title=Truth in Gender: Wu Tsang and boychild on the question of queerness |url=https://www.sleek-mag.com/article/truth-in-gender-wu-tsang-and-boychild-on-the-question-of-queerness/ |website=Sleek}}

In 2013, boychild appeared in Hood By Air's Spring/Summer fashion show alongside rapper A$AP Rocky.{{Cite news|last=Hawgood|first=Alex|date=2013-04-10|title=Hood by Air Has a Fashion Moment|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/11/fashion/hood-by-air-has-a-fashion-moment.html|access-date=2020-05-08|issn=0362-4331}} That same year, Basco toured with musician Mykki Blanco.{{Cite web|title=Boychild on bending the rules of gender|url=https://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/21585/1/boychild-on-bending-the-rules-of-gender|last=Dazed|date=2014-09-08|website=Dazed|language=en|access-date=2020-05-08}}

Since 2013, Basco has regularly collaborated with artist and filmmaker Wu Tsang. Together, they have created projects under the collective name *Moved by the Motion*,{{Cite web |title=Moved by the Motion: Sudden Rise |url=https://whitney.org/exhibitions/sudden-rise |access-date=2025-04-29 |website=whitney.org}}[https://mcachicago.org/publications/blog/2014/08/wu-tsang-and-boychild-in-conversation-with-michelle-puetz "Wu Tsang and Boychild in Conversation with Michelle Puetz." MCA. Accessed 29 April 2025.] which includes other artists such as cellist Patrick Belaga, dancer Josh Johnson, musician Asma Maroof, and poet Fred Moten.{{Cite web|title=How I became an artist: Wu Tsang|url=https://www.artbasel.com/stories/wu-tsang-how-i-became-an-artist-art-basel|website=Art Basel|language=en|access-date=2020-05-08}}

Boychild's performances have been shown at institutions and events including the Gropius Bau, Venice Biennale, Biennale of Sydney, Whitney Museum of American Art, MoMA PS1, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, ICA London, and the Berlin club Berghain.{{Cite web|date=November 7, 2020|title=Performance by Tosh Basco (aka boychild) - "Untitled: darkness"|url=https://www.wesleyan.edu/cfa/events/2020/11-2020/11072020-boychild.html|website=Wesleyan University}}{{Cite web |title=ICPP |url=https://icpp.space/process/artist/tosh-basco-boychild |access-date=2025-04-29 |website=icpp.space}}

Several of her performances are part of an ongoing series titled #Untitled Lip-Sync, which combines choreographed movement, makeup, lighting, and sound.{{Cite book|last=Hamamcioglu|first=Gamze|title=Gesturing Toward Utopia: Queer Time and Place in the Performance Art of Cassils, boychild and Marval A Rex|publisher=İhsan Doğramacı Bilkent University|year=2020|pages=85–88}}{{Cite journal |last=Riszko |first=Leila |date=2017-07-03 |title=Breaching bodily boundaries: posthuman (dis)embodiment and ecstatic speech in lip-synch performances by boychild |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14794713.2017.1348094 |journal=International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=153–169 |doi=10.1080/14794713.2017.1348094 |issn=1479-4713|doi-access=free }}

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Category:American performance artists

Category:Artists from San Francisco

Category:Living people

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)