m|ou|f

m|ou|f was a multimedia performance presented at UC Santa Cruz’s SURGE Afrofuturism Festival in 2022. Having examined the legacies of violence and faith for BlaQ communities in our prior collaborative projects mouth full of sea and mouth//full, m|ou|f completed our triptych about Afro-Diasporic testimony, hoping to reclaim Black iconicity from the maw of consumer celebrity culture. This work was a meditation on hypervisibility, opacity, sexuality, and the desire of and for queer(ed) Black role models. Inspired by longstanding rumors around the private lives of Whitney Houston and Prince, we explored queer ancestry, sexual legibility, celebrity and the limits of language for Black LGBTQ+ folks, using drag, ritual masquerade, original music, video art and choreography.

All photos by Daris Jasper, Culture Saving LLC.