I am so very excited about my sis @elrafaesparza paying a virtual visit to the Midwest this Thursday! rafa has long been a model for thinking through the possibilities for queering and decolonizing art institutions and discourse, and creating deeply meaningful work that speaks to his community often through collaboration. We’ll be looking at and speaking with rafa about his work for the 3rd #MutantSalon Talks as part of my residency in critical race studies in the Department of Art, Art History, and Design at @michiganstateu @msucal. Open to the public, no pre-registration required, link & pw in @msu_aahd bio. #rafaesparza (at Michigan State University) https://www.instagram.com/p/CHWqK9dF326/?igshid=v7nl04q0j0az

Tuesday October 27: Proud to welcome good friend and artist and writer reimagining how we see bodies, things, and the world we live in @gordon_hall_ for a talk and convo, part 2 of Mutant Salon Talks, as part of my residency at @msu_aahd. Open to the public, no pre-registration required. Get the link and PW at @msu_aahd ‘s bio or: https://art.msu.edu/galleries/exhibitions/#event|gordon-hall-mutant-salon-talk|5327 Don’t miss this and Upcoming talks by @elrafaesparza Nov 12, and @thejulietolentino Nov 19! #mutantsalon (at Michigan State University) https://www.instagram.com/p/CGtHzVUlNty/?igshid=1g4ml2w7l0hzh

On Tuesday October 27, proud to welcome @gordon_hall_ for a talk and convo as part of Mutant Salon Talks, one of my activities as Artist-in-Residence in Critical Race Studies in @msu_aahd. Open to the public, no pre-registration required. Get the link and PW: https://art.msu.edu/galleries/exhibitions/#event|gordon-hall-mutant-salon-talk|5327 The first talk with EJ Hill @iheartbeuys was 🔥. Don’t miss this and Upcoming talks by @elrafaesparza Nov 12, and @thejulietolentino Nov 19! #mutantsalon (at Michigan State University) https://www.instagram.com/p/CGnK7ZcF1sd/?igshid=2o6cmyj4bssu

This was part of an unrealized #MutantSalon project proposal called #WeAreAllMutants: a series of “campaign cards” that included drawings I made and texts bringing together a mix of artists, activists, and mutants from different walks that are trailblazers for social change. Pictured here: #notoriousrbg 😭✊💜 & @sarahgail #ruthbaderginsburg #restinpower #sarahgail (at Supreme Court of the United States) https://www.instagram.com/p/CFX5w9RFCfA/?igshid=76rbmadh8x3t

I’m leading a free online course MUTANT SALON: OBJECTHOOD & THE PERFORMANCE OF AGENCY Saturday (tomorrow) 8/15 at 3 PM PST as part of @commonwealthandcouncil Summer School. The topic is about how we can’t deny the urgency of the need to address that the story of racism, of white supremacy, of capitalist patriarchy as one of seeing groups of people as simple objects to be dominated. Art and my community have taught me so much about re-visualizing the invisible relationships between bodies, objects, and physical and social constructs in order to engage with these problematics in ways that aren’t so painful, damaging, fearful, and isolating. I want to talk about this with y’all and about abject objects, hybrids, assemblages, Trans-Performance Objects, time and space travel, Mutant Salon and the radical contradiction of it all with the hope that this will get a larger and more open discussion going amongst us. I want to talk about thingness and queerness as kin, and by queer I don’t mean LGBTQ queer. By queer I refer to the other outside of the conventional ordering of sex, reproduction, and intimacy, like Mel Y. Chen would say. Or Dale Peck has another way of terming queer which I have an affinity for in saying “we're all queer, if ‘queer was the desire to live in another time, queer was the dream of traveling to another planet, queer was the need to do something.’” So you too can come queer. I’ve been bringing some new things together for y’all and it’ll be cute and weird. xoxo You can sign up on C&C’s website for the link or DM me for Zoom info for the last-minute bbs. #MutantSalon (at Commonwealth and Council) https://www.instagram.com/p/CD5gl3tl4nv/?igshid=7y38ogpmnanx

I’m on a zoom panel with badass QnA art queens @kibumk @xaviercha @wangshui_ tomorrow/Sunday at 8 PM PST Free and open to the public Must RSVP at: qna.la QNA’s Conversations on Community & Culture for API Heritage Month May 31, 2020 (via Zoom) SUNDAY / MAY 31 / 12PM-10PM PST More info at @qna.la #mutantsalon #slaysian (at Mutant Salon) https://www.instagram.com/p/CA1A1T3lAuD/?igshid=su1iqpvdw7oy

Throwback to the early days of Mutant Salon (2012-2013?): I was lucky enough to meet so many amazing queer POC artists + performers at #XinaXurner shows at parties like #CoolWorld, meanwhile visiting so-called “SERIOUS” art museums + galleries showing the same tired art + performances (after moving to LA for grad school) that made me wish that the amazing performers I’d witness in underground spots that were so vital to me and our communities could share that platform. I started Mutant Salon initially bc I needed a safe space to get made up and dressed up and to share that space with other mutants; I wanted to build a community around collaboration and caring for each other; where we could let go of the shame and feel valued and respected and embrace our differences; where we could hear each other and help ourselves be heard, and throw free parties & art & performance shows inviting our communities, all-the-while using the institution’s resources and space from underneath their noses, which I knew was temporary. Grateful that I had an amazingly supportive cohort at USC that was all for it and my boo @senormijo who always has a huge hand in everything I do. So much love to everyone and our communities that have been involved in MS over the years—Y’all saved me! #mutantsalon has transformed over the years, she’s still transforming cause we are; more to come... (at IFT Graduate Fine Arts, University of Southern California) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bz_Nj46lOJM/?igshid=1l9ge8dgeb728

#mutantsalon reunion 💜 📸 @annaluisapetrisko (at Human Resources Los Angeles) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bukx0L2FJ7O/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1ak39n3cfuy9b