Tosh Basco

Tosh Basco’s practice spans across performance, photography and drawing. She is best known for her movement and body-based performances staged under the name of Boychild. Her mesmerising performances usually escape from being captured, demanding actual, physical presence. Having started to perform in San Francisco drag bars, Basco carried on shaping a uniquely alive, moving and collaborative performativity. With collaboration being a vital aspect of her practice, she co-funded Moved by the Motion, a collective entity she runs with artist and filmmaker Wu Tsang. The immediacy of Basco’s live art can be further sensed in her two-dimensional works: her photography and drawings retain a communicative, intimate eloquence. For instance, her 2021 Grief Series, born out of the artist’s personal loss, depicts monochrome fast-paced strokes which hint at a body that was once present and now gone. The simplicity of forms in Basco’s works only accentuates the complexity of their message.