Listed by the Huffington Post as “one of ten transgender artists who are changing the landscape of contemporary art,” Cassils has achieved international recognition for a rigorous engagement with the body as a form of social sculpture. Drawing on conceptualism, feminism, body art, gay male aesthetics, Cassils forges a series of powerfully trained bodies for different performative purposes. It is with sweat, blood, and sinew that Cassils constructs a visual critique around ideologies and histories.
Cassils received their bachelor’s degree from Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and a master's degree in visual arts and integrated media from the California Institute of the Arts. Cassils has lectured in the art department at Stanford University and was the curator of "Vital Signs," a performance series at Stanford University that aims to highlight and showcase underrepresented performance forms such as experimental performance art, durational art, and body art.
They show their work internationally. Solo exhibitions include: ICA Perth (PICA), Australia; Station Museum, TX; Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, NY; Macedonia Museum of Fine Arts; Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, Omaha; Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts; School of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston; MU Eindhoven, Netherlands; and Trinity Square Video, Toronto.
Cassils’ work has been featured in museums and galleries all over the world: Deutsches Historisches Museum and the Schwules Museum*, Berlin; Institute for Contemporary Art and The National Theatre, London; MUCA Roma, Mexico City; Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco; Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions; Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, Salt Lake City; ANTI Contemporary Performance Festival, Kuopio, Finland; Museo da Imagem e do Som, São Paulo, Brazil; Museo de Arte y Diseño Contemporáneo, San José, Costa Rica; and Deutsches Historishes Museum, Berlin, Germany.
Cassils’ work has been published in: The New York Times, Boston Globe, Artfourm, Hyperallergic, Wired, The Guardian UK, TDR, Performance Research, Art Journal, and Vogue Brazil. Cassils’ films have premiered at: Sundance Film Festival (Utah), Out Fest (Los Angeles), The Institute for Contemporary Art (London).
