June 15--Mykki Blanco, an openly gay rapper and performance artist who has served as a LGBTQ advocate, announced this weekend she has been HIV positive since 2011.
"Ive been HIV Positive since 2011, my entire career. (expletive) stigma and hiding in the dark, this is my real life. I'm healthy I've toured the world 3 times but ive been living in the dark, its time to actually be as punk as i say I am," Blanco posted on Facebook Friday.
Blanco, whose government name is Michael Quattlebaum Jr., has identified as transgender. She released a punk mixtape, "Gay Dog Food," in October.
After fans posted message of support about the disclosure, Blanco wrote in a Facebook comment: "The music industry ain't gonna like i admitted this so if a curator could help me move more into the art world that would be awesome."
Blanco attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago for two semesters a decade ago before moving back to New York.
Blanco said in a 2013 interview with the Tribune that she was harrassed for wearing women's clothing while she was living in Chicago but the city was also the place where she found herself creatively.
"Once I got out of the school system and removed myself from contact with a lot of the things that were depressing me about Chicago -- I didn't have to walk to school through the Loop and have people yell and scream at me, threaten to kill me; I didn't have to take the train anymore, I could have a bike. I could have my own autonomous life and I was surrounded by all these wonderful people -- so the second half of me being in Chicago was just a creative renaissance. It became about me embracing this freak scene," Blanco told the Tribune.
