Reimagining Latinx (Trans)masculinities
How can Latino (trans)masculinities and Colombian mythologies be brought together in a performative exploration?
15:00 - 17:00
Thoravej 29, 2400 Copenhagen NW
Participation in the event is FREE, but please reserve a ticket as seats are limited. You can book your ticket here:
The artistic research
Together with his collaborators Patri Roa Johansen will engage in digital and archival research into Colombian masculine figures, legends and ancestral stories. They will draw inspiration and re-imagine these in new artworks with a trans body. Particularly they are interested in researching the Muisca origin cosmologies and figures surrounding gender and duality such as Bachué and Nencatacoa. Duality is often an essential characteristic of Andean indigenous worldviews, and has been translated into other mestizo Latinx gender binaries as well. As a descendant from these
As a descendant from these territories and communities, Patri wish to better understand how Colombian trans men have been negotiating indigenous and mestizo ancestral connection largely understood through andean duality, with local and diasporic transmasculinity and gender dissidence.
Patris own dragtivism is often characterized by Trans Joy, namely trans ways of being that center joy and pleasure, and resist dominant narratives of shame, violence, and erasure. While the concept of Trans Joy guides him deeply, Patri wants new tools to put trans men on display, and engage in different conversations. As trans people, are nuanced and multidimensional, and their stories deserve that same depth recognized as well. Furthermore, trans men are re-imagining masculinity and showing the world how the modern man can be. To imagine beyond toxic masculinity dialectics is both radical and everyday work that we transmen are particularly well positioned to engage in.
Patri is hoping to be more connected to his own ancestral knowledge, and to develop as an artist, giving his drag persona more depth and new inspiration visually with storytelling rooted in his own lineage by researching Latino (trans)masculinities and Colombian mythologies. This preliminary research would entail an exploration into myths and legends, but also into textiles, costumes, dance/movement, and other theatrical elements from Colombia, Latin America, and the diaspora which can best carry this hybrid story hi needs to (re)tell.
The artists
Through his drag practice, Patri Roa Johansen will deepen his exploration of gender and masculinities by integrating movement coaching, costume design, and research-based character development. In collaboration with a writer and researcher, he will rewrite a Colombian myth, and in close collaboration with a Colombian visual artist whose creative practice is rooted in the monstrous and ancestral knowledge, he will enrich and translate this visually into costumes and scenography.
Patris' two Danish-based contacts include an Afro-Colombian artist with a background in theater and dance, and is in close contact with the migrant trans and queer community in Copenhagen, and a Colombian singer and rapper who will help develop a track and explore sounds that connect the worlds he wants to bring together.
Patri has been invited into residency through a direct invitation from HAUT's artistic leader Alex Blum. The invitation included an opportunity for Patri to assemble his own artistic team.