NANGYAYARI NA: a Multidimensional Mixtape

NANGYAYARI NA: a Multidimensional Mixtape

Visual and performance artist Kiam Marcelo Junio will debut a new performance piece, NANGYAYARI NA: a Multidimensional Mixtape at this year's QUEERGASM! Hosted by Northwestern University's Queer Pride Graduate Student Association, in conjunction with the QUEERTOPIA Annual Women and Gender Studies Symposium. NANGYAYARI NA (Filipino/Tagalog for "It's already happening") is a 30 minute 2-act production : a meditation on Filipino diaspora experience, traversing numerous landscapes, shapes, cultures, sounds, philosophies, and art forms.  There are too many words to describe what the project entails, but here are a few key words: #slugsex #musical #filipino #english #spanish #catholic #religion #love #time #space #memory #nostalgia #yoga #chakras #butoh #karaoke #military #marching #queer #explosion  Featured performers: Holly Chernobyl Mister Junior Heather Marie and the Jerry Blossom Brigade: Josephine Shaker Christopher Knowlton Xavier Saint DeathWolf Video projection collaboration with Christopher Sonny Martinez Music by Praxis Counter-praxis, græ, and Blue Redder More details forthcoming! For questions, inquiries, comments and volunteer opportunities, contact the artist directly at [email protected]

May 3, 2014 at Studio BE 6-10 pm 3110 N Sheffield, Chicago, IL USA

  image and design by IAMKIAM Studios

How maps have distorted our sense of place and politics

1. A world map with Asia in the center.  This is the map I remember growing up with in the Philippines.

2. the Western-centric map we are more familiar with overlaid on top of the Peters map, which is a more accurate projection of the earth's surface, using different algorithms.  The Peters map is a better representation of land masses as they are, rather than Euro-centric (due to maritime travel and duh, colonization) maps that shrink developing countries and masses such as South America and Africa. 

3. A version of the world map with the southern hemisphere on top.

4. Major Western countries compared in land mass to the continent of Africa

Notice how these maps affect your sense of place.  The appearance of land masses as bigger and on top of the frame influence perceptions of power and importance. For centuries, we have been familiarized with world maps that distort our view of the "real" world. 

More info about the Peters Map here

(shoutout to Stella for bringing this to my attention!)

Performed a new poem, “Ode to Selfies” tonight at salonathon Presents: GUILTY PLEASURES (at Beauty Bar)

Ode to Selfies

Why do I take selfies?

Because my face is phenomenal.

A Filipino proverb says, the bigger the forehead, the bigger the brain. I must be Einstein then. Or better yet, Jose Rizal, who learned from the Spanish conquerors, and used their tools to dismantle an Empire. They call him the father of the Philippines.

Why do I take selfies?

Because my eyes are pools of mud, made of earth and rain, rivers that nourish, and monsoons that destroy. My eyes are dirt and tears and blood spilled over centuries of warfare.

And my lips? My lips are ripe red fruits you can’t buy at Jewel Osco. Organic, locally grown, fair trade, all that good shit.

Why do I take selfies?

Because I was raised to think that beauty is something unattainable.

Because there was never anyone who looked like me on TV, or magazines, or in movies.

Because when I was 16, my mom told me that Filipinos don’t belong in the spotlight, only backstage. I don’t blame her though. It’s the America she landed on, and the America that still largely exists today.

But I’ve stopped believing in TV, magazines and Hollywood movies. There’s nothing there for me to learn about life, or love, or truth, or the beauty that I seek.

Except for Tyra Banks. As problematic and cuckoo bananas as she is, she did teach me how to smile with my eyes, find my strong angles, and to always catch the light.

I’ve been catching and making my own light since.

Why do I take selfies?

Because I’m still Facebook friends with people I knew while serving in the military and I just looooove to queer their little world.

Why do I take selfies?

Because I’m learning to love myself, while unlearning the social cues I’ve been given all my life.

The cautionary tale of Narcissus warns against falling in love with your own reflection. Well, what can I say? He was white.

I, meanwhile, am going to continue instagramming the hell out of my phenomenal fucking face.

#gpoy #selfies #vanityasselfcare #beauty #imnotamodelijustlovemyself

Actions for an Asian Immigrant performance, 45 min. duration

Kiam Marcelo Junio, 2012