Ron Athey - Luminary Page

In 1996, Aubin Pictures made its first feature-length documentary. It was about Ron. Hallelujah! Ron Athey: A Story of Deliverance revealed his queerest performances, and him as an artist whose work, bloody, sacred, radical, had become a flashpoint in the culture wars. It wasn't a safe first film. It was a declaration.

That declaration set the terms for everything Aubin has done since. By beginning with his story, by saying in our very first frame that we will not look away from what is difficult and urgent and true, we established an identity that has guided thirty years of work.

He is Aubin's origin. He is the lantern we held up at the beginning. He is, of all our 30 Luminaries, the first. We thank him. For everything.