“#BIOGRAPHYofCOMPLAINT” is a live-art and online meme project that surveys the performatory nature of civil rights laws. This life-as-art project is inspired by my inability to report institutional gaslighting, because I was unable to write a Department of Education retaliation complaint on my own.

In the durational performance of “#BIOGRAPYofCOMPLAINT” I ask New Yorkers, “Would you like to file a complaint?” When I randomly asked people walking in New York City if they would like to file a civil rights complaint, no one seemed interested. The most common type of reply was “no, I’m doing good,” and the affirmational “there is no need for me to complain.” I could tell a lot of people thought it was very presumptive for a white guy to be walking around with a clipboard in 2019, asking strangers if they wanted the necessary paperwork to fill out a civil rights complaint. Thankfully people were more eager to engage with me at performance art venues. The long breaks in between performances were very conducive to these one-on-one listening and scribing sessions. The process of helping people find the right complaint form, legal terms, and classification for their experiences was far from an act of bureaucratic pencil-pushing. Even if the participants never submitted their complaint to the right agency, they received a container to hold what went wrong.