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Art Share Presents
August 2, 2019 @ 8:00 PM - 10:00 PM
About
Art Share Presents is back, this time featuring three LGBTQ+ Latinx performing artists exploring their identities, histories, and communities:
“Callejera” by Jose Aviles
“Our flowers are arisen in the place of rain” by Lu Coy
Figgy Baby
Doors at 7:30pm, show 8–9pm, reception with artists to follow!
Admission is FREE!
“Callejera” is a multimedia art piece that explores the testimony and spatial analysis of the Queer Ethical Subject. Historically, Queer folk, especially Queer folk of color, othered and ostracized to edges. This piece looks at the author’s life and experiences as a queer bus rider in Los Angeles to create a piece of spoken word, dance, and song.
Jose Richard Aviles is a Los Angeles native whose work is rooted in their love for their community, city, and art. Aviles proudly represents South Central and their training in Latin Social Dance. It is through the public transit system that Aviles discovered their love for the city, the potential of its residents, and the defiance of their identities.
“Our flowers are arisen in the place of rain” derives its text from translations of the 16th century codex, Cantares Mexicanos, song 44 “Teponazcuicatl.” This song laments the departure of Quetzalcoatl from Earth and calls upon the spirits of the Toltec ancestors to transform Mexico into a paradise of blooms before the divine mother deity Tonantzin, while a Bishop preaches on the shores of lake Texcoco, describing the appearance of the Virgin of Guadalupe, a moment which forever changed the theological history of the peoples of Mexico. The singer goes on to describe the ways in which the Toltec spirits live on within the songs and paintings of the Aztec people, and that it is their intention to keep Mexican culture and history alive forever in song. All musical material which accompanied these texts has been long since lost, forgotten and destroyed.
Lu writes: “my pitched material is not ‘traditional’ (there are no documents or intact aural traditions demonstrating the tonalities of pre-columbian Mexican music) but is loosely based on a Mexican style of singing called ‘cardenche.’ By interacting with this text, I hope to resurrect a small piece of ancestral memory which has been buried under layers of colonial erasure. In my interpretation of this text, I run my voice through various harmonizer and distortion pedals to create a choir of voices which grows in size and intensity throughout the duration of the piece in an attempt to keep alive the fading spirits and ancestors whom my body was not permitted access to.”
Lu Coy is a mixed media artist and musician based in Los Angeles, California. Originally from Southwest Texas, Lu is of Xicanx /Tejanx and Ukrainian Jewish descent, and creates work in the form of ritual performance art, video, object, experimental music and song. Much of their practice stems from an interest in forging a tangible identity as a multi-ethnic, queer person of color and a desire to give closure to moments of unresolved personal or ancestral trauma- creating reenactments or performances of identity through investigations of mourning, shame, failure, consumption, childhood/adolescence, beauty and gender.
Lu received their MFA from California Institute of the Arts and has held residencies at La Domaine Forget, the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, and the Brevard Music Center. Lu performs frequently as a multi-instrumentalist, recording artist and vocalist for several prominent groups in LA’s Queer-Latinx music scene such as SanCha, Sister Mantos, and Sin Color. They have also been featured as a wind player on tracks by Eyvind Kang, Avey Tare of Animal Collective, Blonde Redhead, Mx Matias, Tyler Holmes and PJ Sin Suela.
An interactive hip hop performance reimagining masculinity, manhood and self-worth. Figgy Baby’s thoughtful lyricism and high-energy stage presence invites the audience to celebrate their own experience and believe in hope for healing. Using rap, dance and spoken word, Figgy Baby creates a vulnerable and welcoming space for all.
Figgy Baby is an internationally-touring queer rapper, dancer, and community builder based in Los Angeles who creates work exploring the healing and reimagining of masculinity and manhood. Best known for their gender defying style, thoughtful lyricism, and high-energy stage presence, Figgy Baby strives to create a fluid space that recognizes identity and truth as continuously changing and progressing aspects of life.
