performance
St. Tilapia's Mass-Trans-Aganza
written and performed in collaboration with Jaz Palermo, 2019-2020, Buffalo, NY
St. Nebulatious (Palermo) and St. Cloud (Best) present St. Tilapia's Mass-Trans-Agansa, a trans and queer ministry with messages of liberation from the confines of your body. This is a non denominational liturgy of music, word, and movement. Unoffiliated with christianity, it recycles 'christian' words and structures to express shared anger, curiosity, humor, and grief about being trans/queer, wondering semi-seriously what church and heaven is, wanting to give and make heaven and sainthood real.
PDF of prayers and songs here.
Moth-er
performed spring 2017, Alfred, NY
I have a childhood fear of moths. They were terrifying, fuzzy, and awake at odd hours. As I came into being trans, I found that moths and I shared much more in common. The process of coming out was entangled in a process of changing relationship with my family. It was as if I was becoming a moth everyone was afraid of...yet I was just discovering new ways of speaking and being. I found my authentic self to be tangled in with family of origin history. A moth persona emerged. In this performance, available only to those who arrived to be a patient audience, a moth shuffles in the dark to discover a lamp. With the light on, they play a song with the audience and invite others to linger on their accordion lung keys. Flour symbolizes the dust and particles moths may use to create a cocoon and the matriarchal lineage this piece relates to.
Mask: paper mache, beeswax, thread
Collar: kozo fiber, flour, beeswax, wire
Shawl: graphite, paper
Dress: fabric, paper
Wings: hand pulled abaca paper, distressed, coated in vanilla, tea, and beeswax. Words "yes, no, maybe" written in graphite.