Savannah Knoop (born 1981) is an American artist and filmmaker. From 1999 to 2005, Knoop performed the public role of

literary hoax Literary forgery (also known as literary mystification, literary fraud or literary hoax) is writing, such as a manuscript or a literary work, which is either deliberately misattributed to a historical or invented author, or is a purported memoir ...

JT Leroy Jeremiah Terminator LeRoy, or simply JT LeRoy is a literary persona created in the 1990s by American writer Laura Albert. LeRoy was presented as the author of three books of fiction, which were purportedly semi-autobiographical accounts by a tee ...

Early life

Knoop grew up in the San Francisco Bay area, born to artist and acupuncturist Sharon Hennessey, and documentary filmmaker and cinematographer, John Knoop. Knoop was the youngest of five half siblings. Knoop attended high school at Westover, an all girls boarding school in Connecticut. From 1999 to 2001, Knoop attended City College of San Francisco.

Portrayal of JT LeRoy

In 1999 writer

Laura Albert Laura Victoria Albert (born November 2, 1965) is an American author who invented the literary persona JT LeRoy, whom Albert described as an "avatar." She published various works of purportedly autobiographical fiction under the LeRoy name bef ...

, then-partner of Knoop's brother, asked Knoop to play her fictional persona

JT LeRoy Jeremiah Terminator LeRoy, or simply JT LeRoy is a literary persona created in the 1990s by American writer Laura Albert. LeRoy was presented as the author of three books of fiction, which were purportedly semi-autobiographical accounts by a tee ...

. Knoop embodied JT LeRoy in all public appearances for the next six years. After the literary scandal was unveiled in the NY Times in 2005,

Seven Stories Press Seven Stories Press is an independent American publishing company. Based in New York City, the company was founded by Dan Simon in 1995, after establishing Four Walls Eight Windows in 1984 as an imprint at Writers and Readers, and then incorpora ...

published Knoop's memoir in 2007 titled '' Girl Boy Girl: How I Became JT LeRoy'' cataloguing their experiences of playing their sister-in-law's writing persona and avatar

. With director Justin Kelly, they adapted it into the feature-length film ''

'', starring Kristen Stewart, Laura Dern, Jim Sturgess, and Diane Kruger, released by Universal Pictures in April 2019.

Career

In 2001, Knoop founded the clothing line Tinc with Parachati Pattajotti, creative partner, architect and

restaurateur A restaurateur is a person who opens and runs restaurants professionally. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who owns a restaurant, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspec ...

. In 2006, Knoop's sister Hennessey Knoop joined as head of sales for their company. Tinc ran until 2009 and sold to stores such as Modern Appealing Clothing and Takashimaya. After folding Tinc, Knoop moved to New York. They finished their bachelor's degree in the fall of 2013 at CUNYBA under the mentorship of Vito Acconci. In 2014 they went on to their MFA at Virginia Commonwealth University: Sculpture + Extended Media. Movement is an essential part of Knoop's practice. Knoop has studied dance and martial arts for over twenty years. Knoop studies Brazilian jiu-jitsu under the tutelage of Marcelo Garcia in New York. Knoop, who identifies as gender non-conforming, has shown and performed at the Whitney,

MoMA Moma may refer to: People * Moma Clarke (1869–1958), British journalist * Moma Marković (1912–1992), Serbian politician * Momčilo Rajin (born 1954), Serbian art and music critic, theorist and historian, artist and publisher Places ; Ang ...

, the ICA Philadelphia, the Leslie-Lohman Museum, Movement Research, and Essex Flowers gallery. They have collaborated and performed live with artists such as Simone Forti,

A.K. Burns A.K. Burns (born 1975, in Capitola, California) is a New York-based Interdisciplinary arts, interdisciplinary Visual arts, visual artist, working with video, installation, sculpture, collage, poetry and collaboration whose works address Transfeminis ...

Math Bass Math Bass (b. 1981, New York, New York) is an artist known for fusing performance with paintings and sculptures using formal elements like solid colors, geometric imagery, raw materials, and visual symbols. Bass has exhibited at Overduin & Kite, H ...

and Lauren Davis Fisher, Gordon Hall,

Geo Wyeth Geo Wyex, fka Geo Wyeth (born 1984) is a transgender mixed-race, black American musician and performance artist known for songs, performances and soundscapes works that explore, augment, and reimagine the material articulations and embodiments of ...

, Nica Ross, Nicole Killian, Jules Gimbrone,

Niv Acosta Niv may refer to: * Niv, a personal name; for people with the name, see * Niv Art Movies, a film production company of India * Niv Art Centre, in New Delhi, India NIV may refer to: * The New International Version, a translation of the Bible into E ...

, Elizabeth Orr, Robert Wilson, and

. From 2010 to 2016 they threw the party, WOAHMONE, with Nica Ross and Nathann Carerra.

Selected works

* Tripod Sweep (2019) * SCREENS, a project about "community" (2019) * Nosferatu on the Beach (2018) * Heads and Tails (2016)

Collaborations

* Small Town Sex Shop (2015) * WOAHMONE (2009-2016)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knoop, Savannah 1981 births Living people American artists American filmmakers People from San Francisco Non-binary artists