THIS IS HOW IT HAPPENS (2017)

Conceived as both a response to the shock among certain circles of 45’s rise to power and a commitment to resistance, this protest piece was originally performed in collaboration with Katie Williams, Jacob Rafati, Roxanne Black, and Angela Nguyen on Market Street in San Francisco during the 2017 Presidential Inauguration. Staged amidst the lunch hour rush in San Francisco’s business district, Rafati and Williams paint the cubes indifferently, while Nguyen and Black’s facial expressions and bodily movements gradually evolve from patriotic gestures to twisted contortions. Their bodies reflect the insidious colonial legacies of America that persist today, as they are completely covered by her iconic stars and stripes.

The performance was remounted in a gallery context as part of A Living Thing at San Francisco Art Institute in conversation with Mel Ziegler’s Flag Exchange, where the goal was to create space for common ground and dialogue within our increasingly fractured civil discourse.

Presentations:
A Living Thing - SFAI, 2017
4th St and Market Street, San Francisco, 2017