bio

Iris McCloughan is a trans performance maker, writer, and director in New York City. Their practice spans text, performance, and image-making to explore the queer body, its physical and discursive constructions, and its expansive potential.

As a performance maker, they have collaborated with numerous other artists, including Eiko Otake, Joan Jonas, Alex Tatarsky, Mike Lala, Toby Altman, Julie Mayo, Jaime Maseda (as No Face Performance Group), Leslie Rogers, and Mel Krodman. Their performance work has been presented in New York City (AUNTS, JACK, Ars Nova, The Poetry Project), Philadelphia (The Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia Contemporary, ICA Philadelphia, FringeArts, Vox Populi), Detroit (Public Pool), and elsewhere.

McCloughan was the winner of the 2018 Stanley Kunitz Memorial Prize from American Poetry Review, and was named a finalist in nonfiction for Best of the Net 2020. Their writing has appeared in Tupelo Quarterly, BOMB, jubilat, juked, Queen Mob's Teahouse, Denver Quarterly, Gertrude, and many others. They are the author of three chapbooks, including Triptych (greying ghost, 2021) and Bones to Peaches (Seven Kitchens Press, 2022).

McCloughan's visual work has been exhibited in group shows in New York (Arisohn + Murphy, Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts), Philadelphia (Little Berlin, Vox Populi), and Chicago (ACRE Projects). They have been awarded residencies through the Chocolate Factory Theater, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, JACK/BEAM Center, ACRE, and the Downtown Brooklyn Alliance.

iris (dot) mccloughan (at) gmail (dot) com