02/02/2014

"Mez (aka Mary-Anne Breeze) ties experimental language to avatar creation and collaborative networking to explore complex and often contested political and social themes. The originality of her approach with its rich integration of the various aspects of her praxis has repercussions beyond aesthetics:

When Breeze transformed herself into Ms. Post Modernism, she felt obligated to represent that with a description of a physical act of self-mutilation: cutting out one's face so that it can be removed and replaced. Today, when Breeze posts to listservs, she posts under avatars that only exist for a few weeks or a few days, often reflecting a political or social issue on her mind, before she finally discards that avatar for a new one. The process of transforming her identity seems mundane and easy, just as it seems to anyone else who participates in these online environments long enough. (Reep)

Mez's precursors in print fiction include Kathy Acker, Among other works, Kathy Acker's Empire of the senseless. whose surreal and terrible prose seems to have been semantically dismantled by Mez's more technologically engaged praxis. Both stretch language and genre until only thin tendrils of reference to mainstream literature remain. These thin tendrils are even more nebulous in Mez's case, since she distributes her work, and indeed, shares "ownership" of her work, in ways that exist beyond the scope of the capitalist print fiction industry."

- "Language rules" by Geniwate, Electronic Book Review