Work

Sample Last fall, as part of the Visual Arts Honors program, I created two performances. Originally presented separately, I now think of them as one two-part performance and have them documented as such. The key idea behind both performances was to use Christian sacraments, both the environment and the actions associated with said rituals, and transpose them into a queer space. I wanted to appropriate and tweak the processes.

The first part, entitled Rebirth, used the ritual of baptism and combined it with a notion of queer circuitry. I set up a space in the gallery with shaving materials, candles, a mirror, a bowl of water and a pedestal with 4 cigarettes wrapped from pages of a Bible. I entered the space, took off my clothing, and lit all the candles (in each corner of the room). I then shaved my head, as much as I could, depositing the leftovers in the bowl. Once that was done, I lit a cigarette, smoked part of it, and put it out on the recently-shaven part of my head. I then repeated this shaving process with the chest hair above my heart, and again lit a cigarette, putting it out on the shaved area. I repeated the

process a third time with my pubic hair and another cigarette. The cigarettes were rolled from small pages in a Gideon Bible; each page had a passage that is commonly used by anti-gay activists to point out the immoral nature of homosexuality. After this, I rinsed myself with the water I had been using to clean my razor, I put my clothes back on, blew out the candles, and left the space.

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The second performance, Heaven Can Wait, took the sacrament of Communion and transposed it into a queered environment. I set up a table, with a bottle of wine, an untouched loaf of bread, lubricant, a condom, and a razor blade. I first prayed over the elements, and slowly ate some of the bread and the wine. In the Catholic tradition, the bread and wine of the Eucharist (Communion) become the literal body and blood of Christ through a process called trans-substantiation, and it is this process I was (at least in action) replicating. I then took the razor blade and cut a cross into my stomach like in the first performance, establishing a marker on the body as a queer circuitry that could interrupt and circumvent the normal modality of the typical Christian communion ritual (and this time, using a reference to Abramovics Lips of Thomas as a recognizable body art action). I then flipped over the table, and put myself inside. I lubricated and made safe with a condom the newly-converted bread/body, and poured out the wine/blood on myself. I then kneeled down and penetrated myself with the loaf. After accomplishing penetration, I took the loaf out, took off the condom, and began eating the bread and drinking leftover wine while gazing at each person in the audience watching. I then climbed out of the upside-down table and walked out of the space.

Photo Credits: Alejandro Parra