Reimagine Latinx (Trans)masculinities
How can Latino (trans)masculinities and Colombian mythologies be brought together in a performative exploration?
8.1.26
8.1.26
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 Roa Johansen
Patri Roa Johansen (he/him) is a Colombian-Danish classically trained musician, a performance artist, and a trans community builder. Currently, he lives in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. He is a member of Papaya Kuir, an intersectional feminist organization for and by trans, lesbian & queer Latinx asylum seekers/migrants in The Netherlands. He is also a founding member of the award winning House of Løstbois, an Amsterdam-based drag king collective. Since 2019, Patri aka LatinX Charm, has taught and done creative research on gender expression through realness drag. LatinX Charm was awarded the Superstar Award at the 2023 Superball, the largest drag competition in Europe.
Mikayla Vieira Ribeiro
Mikayla Vieira Ribeiro (she/her) is a writer, teacher, and translator born and raised in Curaçao. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Black Studies and English from Amherst College (USA), and a Research Masters in Literature from the University of Amsterdam (NL) where she focused on ecological relations in Papiamentu literature. Her work explores healing relations with the land and sea in the Dutch Caribbean, and broadly across Latin America. This past year she has been exploring and (re)writing kuir and transfeminist ocean mythologies through Wintertuin's Future Language Innovation (FLI) program, and Simia Literario's (Dutch) Caribbean water poetics project Awa Archives. Drawing from the territories and communities that have shaped her, Vieira Ribeiro is a bridge across geolinguistic imaginaries. Her work engages digital and oral archives, community based artistic-research, and poetic translations, and has been published in Archipelagos, Islands in Between and PREE.
Natalia Sorzano
Based in Rotterdam, Natalia Sorzano (Nika) (she/her) is a mixed media artist whose installations weave together sculpture, painting, performance, and video. Her work inquires into how relations unfold and affect subjectivity, focusing on the negotiation of belief systems and personal accounts. Looking beyond the human to more-than-human species, material, and mythic realms, she examines the symbols of everyday interaction—how they affect bodies, objects, and spaces while disguising underlying currents of violence, politics, and desire. She folds these observations into her material work to create realities through fantasy and concepts of the macabre. Natalia holds an MFA from the Piet Zwart Institute (2016). Her practice is deeply connected to her community and collaborative work; she is a co-founder of the facilitative platform GHOST and the queer artist-run space Tender Center Rotterdam. She is also a board member for Papaya Kuir, an activist organization supporting immigrant Latinx queer communities. Natalia currently works as an educator and researcher at the Willem de Kooning Academy and is a tutor for the MFA Monstrous Futurities at the Sandberg Institute in Amsterdam.
Michelle Candelaria
Michelle Candelaria (she/her) is an Afro-Colombian artist and activist whose practice centers Black trans people. Because of her work with and for LGBT+ and Afro-Colombian communities, she has been subjected to persecution. Yet Michelle continues to speak out against discrimination, transphobia, homophobia and anti-Black racism. Michelle has a background in theater, dance, and social work, and has been collaborating with Afro-Colombian communities in Colombia and Mexico. She was internally displaced as a result of the armed conflict in Colombia, and eventually had to leave the country because of death threats. Having gone through the asylum process, she currently lives in Denmark.
Mambe Rodriguez
Mambe Rodriguez (she/her) is a Colombian-Danish singer, rapper, and activist creating a raw, revolutionary sound without borders. She blends her Latin roots with global bass and Scandinavian innovation, fusing cumbia, dancehall, and hip-hop into a hypnotic, high-voltage mix. Her powerful live shows are acts of resistance and celebration, uniting dance with radical lyricism for a truly global generation.
The residency
This WORKSHARING is a culmination of a 3 weeks IN SEED residency, hvor kunstnerne har arbejdet i en blackbox med et simpelt teknisk set-up. IN SEED er HAUTs residency der skaber mulighed for at udvikle og forankre nye kunstnerskaber i det danske scenekunstlandskab.
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.