Historically, the outskirts of society have meant home for many members of the Queer community. Through the process of ritual, language, and tradition, a new world of solace for Queer and deviant identities prevailed the attempts of erasure from patriarchal and colonial aspects of mainstream society.

During the 70s and 80s, the rapid proliferation of Queer culture received recognition through media and mainstream society. Well-known aspects of this cultural boom include ballroom culture and dance, as well as new slang and language that was exercised within the community. Alongside these well-known aspects of Queerness, there are also practices to help members make sense of and honor the line between life and death. As a result, Romero became particularly interested in mourning rituals practiced in Queer culture, as it acts as a tangible gateway toward spirituality.

Inspired by “Ephemera as Evidence” by José Esteban Muñoz, this body of work incorporates aspects of Venezuelan spiritual practice with Queer archival and mourning practices to imagine what a Queer-centered practice can look like. How can we as Queer people honor our ancestors? How can we petition them for guidance? What does Queer as ritual look like?

Gino is a queer and trans-first-generation Venezuelan-American. Their work primarily deals with

the decolonization of archives through community intervention and personal narrative. This body

of work explores the Queer experience through a diasporic lens. Using aspects of rituals that

are native to Venezuela in tandem with community archiving, they create a space for collective

healing and memory. Oftentimes in archives, cultural materials are removed from all context,

with this work, they create a living archive that is built for and by its users and contextualized

within a cultural language of Queerness, spiritual practice, and historical ephemera.

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Bonfire Lighting 9:00 pm

Performances at the forest/lake 9:30 - 10:30 pm

+ pre-performance wood-fired pizza 7:00-9:00 pm