Closing performance: “An Infected Sunset”

Closing performance: An Infected Sunset by Demian DinéYazhi’ in collaboration with Holland Andrews
Sat, May 25, 6-9pm

With this performance, we celebrate together the exhibition Unraveling Collective Forms, closing May 25.

An Infected Sunset is an ekphrastic long-form prose poem first conceived in August 2016 in the wake of the Orlando nightclub shooting, police killings of unarmed Black men, and in the midst of the Standing Rock #NoDAPL Resistance. During the writing of the poem the settler colonial nation-state elected the 45th president of this colonized country, which revealed a sudden revival of extreme white supremacist nationalism. As the social and political landscape evolved, the LIBERATED POEM emerged as an offering to Indigenous communities and landscapes striving for a decolonial and sovereign future emancipated from white supremacist capitalist hetero-patriarchal settler colonial trauma drama. This performance poem is a reflection on queer sex, survival/death politics, indigenous identity, settler and heteronormative romanticism, environmental injustice, and the importance of honoring community.

Demian DinéYazhi’ film works An Infected Sunset and Oceti Šakowiŋ are part of the exhibition Unraveling Collective Forms.

Demian DinéYazhi’ (b. 1983) is an Indigenous Diné transdisciplinary artist born to the clans Naasht’ézhí Táb´´há (Zuni Clan Water’s Edge) and Tódích’íí’nii (Bitter Water). Growing up in the colonized border town of Gallup, New Mexico, the evolution of DinéYazhi’s work has been influenced by their ancestral ties to traditional Diné culture, ceremony, matrilineal upbringing, the sacredness of land, and the importance of intergenerational knowledge. Through research, mining community archives, and social collaboration, DinéYazhi´ highlights the intersections of Radical Indigenous Queer Feminist identity and political ideology while challenging the white noise of contemporary art. They have recently exhibited at Whitney Museum of American Art (2018), Henry Art Gallery (2018), Pioneer Works (2018), CANADA, NY (2017); and Cooley Art Gallery (2017). DinéYazhi´ is the founder of the Indigenous artist/activist initiative, R.I.S.E.: Radical Indigenous Survivance & Empowerment. DinéYazhi´ also serves as co-editor of Locusts: A Post-Queer Nation Zine. They are the recipient of the Henry Art Museum’s Brink Award (2017), Hallie Ford Fellow in the Visual Arts (2018), and Eiteljorg Contemporary Art Fellow (2019).  @heterogeneoushomosexual

Holland Andrews is an American vocalist, composer, and performer whose work is based on emotionality and its many forms. In their composition work, Andrews focuses on the abstraction of operatic and extended-technique voice to build soundscapes encompassing both catharsis and dissonance. Frequently highlighting themes surrounding vulnerability and healing, Andrews arranges music with voice and clarinet, harnessing the innate qualities of the instruments’ elegance and power. As a musician, their influences stem from a dynamic range of musician whose influences include contemporary opera, musical theater, as well as ambient and noise music. Andrews performs under the stage name, Like a Villain. In addition to creating solo work, Andrews develops and performs soundscapes for dance, theater, and film artists, and whose work is still toured nationally and internationally. Andrews has gained recognition from publications such as The New York Times, Le Monde, La Republica, Business Times, and more. Holland Andrews is currently based in Portland, Oregon. http://hollandandrews.com/

Support for this project is provided by: Andy Warhol Foundation for the Arts and Betsy Greenberg