What is Your First Memory of Dirt?
audio, vocal performance, score, public art
2024
images credit:
Alejandro Torres Viera and Luis A. Vázquez O’Neill
A vocal performance / score activation of What is your First Memory of Dirt? is 1 of 3 audio performances part of “Excorcism = Liberation”, a public art project / intervention conceived by Puerto Rican-born, Brooklyn-based artist Yanira Castro / a canary torsi ︎︎︎, and team of collaborators.
I worked closely with Yanira to develop this score, sharing my earliest memories of dirt and visiting PR, y los campos de mi familia often as a child. The piece features my mother’s voice, teasingly scolding me with the very words her own mother used when she was a girl growing up on the island.
To hear this and other audio works, learn more about the project, partners, and full list of events, check out exorcism-liberation.net ︎︎︎
This piece appeared at Governers Island Art Center; The Invisible Dog Art Center (Brooklyn, NY); CENTRO - Center for Puerto Rican Studies, Hunter College (NYC); CPR – Center for Performance Research (Brooklyn, NY); The Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural & Educational Center (NYC); La Huerta Roots & Rays Garden (Chicago, IL); Holyoke Public Library, APE Workroom (Northampton, MA)
“Exorcism = Liberation” is a public art project that investigates our relationship to land, self-determination, migration, and climate disaster. Through collective citywide experiences in New York City, Chicago, and the Connecticut River Valley of Western Massachusetts, we invite the American public to imagine alternative futures through the lens of Puerto Rican culture and the U.S.' ongoing colonial history.
“Exorcism = Liberation” utilizes familiar forms of political media campaigns to immerse the public in sonic experiences, distributing stickers, posters, handmade banners, lawn signs and pins through local community and art organizations. “Exorcism = Liberation” is an act of intervention, a rehearsal for collective action during a critical American election.
Exorcism = Liberation Team
Concept, Script & Direction: Yanira Castro
Audio Design: Erica Ricketts
Graphic Design: Alejandro Torres Viera and Luis A. Vázquez O’Neill
Audio Performances: Melissa DuPrey, josé alejandro rivera, Steph Reyes
Bomba: Michael Rodríguez
Creative Producer: Ariel Lembeck
Project Management: Tyler Rai
Audio Description: Andrew Chapma
This project is an extension of Yanira Castro / a canary torsi’s I came here to weep, a multimoda participatory project enacted by the public and supported by Creative Capital.
I worked closely with Yanira to develop this score, sharing my earliest memories of dirt and visiting PR, y los campos de mi familia often as a child. The piece features my mother’s voice, teasingly scolding me with the very words her own mother used when she was a girl growing up on the island.
To hear this and other audio works, learn more about the project, partners, and full list of events, check out exorcism-liberation.net ︎︎︎
This piece appeared at Governers Island Art Center; The Invisible Dog Art Center (Brooklyn, NY); CENTRO - Center for Puerto Rican Studies, Hunter College (NYC); CPR – Center for Performance Research (Brooklyn, NY); The Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural & Educational Center (NYC); La Huerta Roots & Rays Garden (Chicago, IL); Holyoke Public Library, APE Workroom (Northampton, MA)
︎
“Exorcism = Liberation” is a public art project that investigates our relationship to land, self-determination, migration, and climate disaster. Through collective citywide experiences in New York City, Chicago, and the Connecticut River Valley of Western Massachusetts, we invite the American public to imagine alternative futures through the lens of Puerto Rican culture and the U.S.' ongoing colonial history.
“Exorcism = Liberation” utilizes familiar forms of political media campaigns to immerse the public in sonic experiences, distributing stickers, posters, handmade banners, lawn signs and pins through local community and art organizations. “Exorcism = Liberation” is an act of intervention, a rehearsal for collective action during a critical American election.
︎
Exorcism = Liberation Team
Concept, Script & Direction: Yanira Castro
Audio Design: Erica Ricketts
Graphic Design: Alejandro Torres Viera and Luis A. Vázquez O’Neill
Audio Performances: Melissa DuPrey, josé alejandro rivera, Steph Reyes
Bomba: Michael Rodríguez
Creative Producer: Ariel Lembeck
Project Management: Tyler Rai
Audio Description: Andrew Chapma
This project is an extension of Yanira Castro / a canary torsi’s I came here to weep, a multimoda participatory project enacted by the public and supported by Creative Capital.