JAGUAR MARY X
My interests, and the directives that have informed my own art practice, involve black feminist discourse, questions of history, reality and truth as they relate to science and the unknown, and the purpose of the soul/spirit in art. I am influenced by afro-futurist tropes and speech act theory. My performance practice has, at its core, a purposeful and at times, fanciful exploration of notions of freedom and liberation strategies for both sentient and non-sentient beings. I acknowledge my teachers in ritual practice: Kali Maie, White Star, Astrea Aurora, Jane Carleton, Vickie Dodd and Malidoma Some.
My performances are interactive structures that involve movement, narrative and ritual practices like chanting, repeated gestures and gazing, to create a sensate journey that audience practitioners become a part of and are invested in. As a glossolalia vocalist, I use speaking in tongues in addition to previously written lyrics, as elements in a performance score. I am interested in how the archetypes of shaman, healer, activist, muse and storyteller impact the public realm and how they can be used to heal and guide us in times of trouble. No doubt, we are in troubling times now and I believe that it is my role as an artist to activate and be part of a remembering of the transforming power of communal space. I agree with Nina’s Simone’s dictum that the mission of the artist is to “respond to the times in which I find myself”.
KLEDIA SPIRO
Kledia Spiro is a multimedia, interdisciplinary artist and educator creating experiential videos, performances, installations, and socially engaged works. Born in Albania and trained with an Olympic weightlifting team, she uses weightlifting as both metaphor and method to explore migration, identity, collective memory, and women’s strength. Her immersive practice blends psychoanalytic concepts with humor and ritual to question movement, power, and presence.
Spiro explores the connection between strength, weightlifting, and daily life as a new celebratory ritual for understanding the relationship between the artist and the audience, as well as the present and the past. By experimenting with indeterminate methods, Spiro wants the viewer to access the otherwise inaccessible spaces. Her works are based on Freudian and Piagetian behavioral concepts: visions that reflect psycho-analysis, behavioral psychology, and a sensation of indisputability, combined with details of odd, eccentric, absurd, totemic, and humoristic elements. By questioning where one is and the concept of movement, Spiro investigates the manipulation of lifting objects overhead and its effects.
QWEEN AMOR
I’m Qween Amor—a trans woman of color, performance artist, and activist using my body as a living form of resistance and celebration. For over a decade, I’ve danced through streets, across stages, on top of cop cars, and inside spaces where my existence is seen as a threat.
Through movement, religious imagery, and bold acts of defiance, my work confronts the systems that try to control us: colonialism, transphobia, racism, capitalism, and religious violence. I believe joy is a weapon, our bodies are sacred, and our liberation is non-negotiable.
My performances are not just about protest—they are about reclaiming space, rewriting narratives, and creating moments where grief, rage, survival, and joy can exist together. I’m not here to be polite. I’m here to demand that we live fully, loudly, and freely.
Thank you for being part of this journey.
Our existence is power. Our resistance is holy. Our joy is revolutionary.
https://qweenamor.com/