Public performance part of Art League Houston 'Here, Ahora: Houston, Latinx, Queer Artists Under 30' curated by Reyes Ramirez. Photo images by Arely Peña and Teresa Martinez
I Will Wear Death Before I Get Killed
2019
Necro-garment and burial site material
"Death and danger is something that queer and trans people of color deal with all the time, especially when out in a public space. I thought it would be interesting to wear something that is composed by death against a living body. A lot of queer and trans navigation in the world is about the body — I will wear death before I get killed."
I spread burial site material around the outside premises of a local art gallery. Clay slabs and burial dirt are from specific sites of South Texas and were also used to build a Reanimated Sarcophagus after it was destroyed. Accompanying me is a clothing rack holding the Necro-garment used in the nightclub performance Operation Psychopomp. I also wear a "rosary harness" made out of the same material as the plated garment. These sculptures are placed outside the gallery sidewalk and left as passersby encounter its whiffs the wind carries to them.
