'Club intervention' at The Dive bar part of Be Careful Houston TX.
Special thanks to Farrah Fang, Leopoldo Germán Beltrán Rolón, Juan Aaron Castillo, Slant Rhyme, Stnbak Lou, Vidal & Nathan Kennard. All photo documentation by Moe Penders. Disposable camera images by Junior Fernandez. Polaroid images by Brenda Edith Franco. Video contributions by Alexandra Lartigue, Jazmín E. Ramírez, Alexis Gzs, Junior Fernandez and Brenda Edith Franco.
Text art design by Alexandra Lartigue.
6 Daggers (featuring performance by Farrah Fang)
2019
Ixtli pyramid made out of chicken wire, photo panel, a queen bee & six 3-d fabricated daggers. Performed at Be Careful, The Dive, Houston TX
A caged pyramid with four face panels composed of cow eyeballs and images of trans victims of violence is pulled through the venue, inside a trans woman dances while wearing a necklace capsule containing a live queen bee. Eventually a crowd of people begin to destroy the cage cocoon with stabbing daggers, piercing through the eyes and the images, releasing their souls and the vulnerable trans woman into the space. Just like when a new queen bee gets introduced to a colony, if not accepted, her own community kills her. The trans woman devours the live queen bee that she holds in her capsule necklace, consuming her, she is dragged out of the venue.
Live queen bee
A live (dying) honeybee queen is transported into the nightclub within a capsule necklace worn by trans performer Farrah Fang. Imitating the process when a new queen bee is introduced to a colony, the worker bees surround her upon entry, touching her and smelling her. This scene is recreated during the performance, the nightclub crowd inspects the caged trans woman, eventually forcing her out of the cage by tearing the panels. Once released, the trans performer consumes the queen bee.
"the ouroboros ritual commences
The queen bee is devoured & a new one is born"
Ritual (2019) Farrah Fang
*Read poem 'Ritual' by Farrah Fang
Ixtli pyramid
īxtli iːʃtɬi (nahuatl), face, eye, visage, rostro.
The souls of trans bodies are trapped within the gore images produced by the media, depicting trans bodies as solely "victims of violence". These photographs were taken from online sources, printed and used to construct a face panel of the caged pyramid made out of chicken wire. During the performance, a group of spectators begin to destroy, rip and stab the photo panel with daggers - releasing and freeing the souls upon piercing their faces.
Formaldehyde cow eyes cover the face panels of the moving pyramid, constructing an architectural structure made out of flesh. Originally the eyes are for scientific dissection purposes, instead used in a parallel ritual manner of being pierced through by daggers.
3-D printed daggers
A jade dagger originating from an archeological site of the region of Oaxaca is laser scanned and 3-D printed into 6 duplicates. This action attempts to transfer the energy of the dagger into new replicated objects. The fabricated daggers are handed to friends and spectators at the nightclub and used during the performance to puncture and destroy the panels of the caged pyramid.
The performance is part of a series that centers the jade dagger as protagonist.
*Other works involving the jade dagger,
Watch full length video '6 Daggers'
Dana Martin
Jazzaline Ware
Ashanti Carmon
Claire Legato
Muhlaysia Booker
Michelle 'Tamika' Washington
Paris Cameron
Chynal Lindsey
Chanel Scurlock
Zoe Spears
Brooklyn Lindsey
Denali Berries Stuckey
Kiki Fantroy
Pebbles LaDime Doe
Tracy Single
Bailey Reeves
Bee Love Slater
'Bubba' Walker
Ja'leyah Jamar
Layleen Cubilette Polanco
Itali Marlow
Elisha Chanel Stanley
Brianna ‘BB’ Hill
La Becky
Melissa Feitosa Borges
Catalina Casquete Holguín
Renata Spencer
Mhelody Polan Bruno
Camila Díaz Córdova
Britany Sanchez Zárate
Johana Medina Leon
