The Halo is a Symbol of Our Death,
Performance, Video, Generative AI, Analog Video/Audio Synthesis
2023

Selected for the 2024 Light Matter Film Fest
Screened in:
New York City, NY
Santa Fe, NM
Chicago, IL

Link
 
Artist Statement

“The Halo is a Symbol of Our Death” is a video artwork that delves into the intersections of technology, trans experience, and the juxtaposition of Christian iconography with queer liberation. The work centers around a deeply personal act: the injection of estrogen by the artist, a trans woman, capturing an intimate and transformative moment. The video unfolds through a dynamic interplay of two camera angles, seamlessly interwoven with animations generated by AI using the artist’s action art prompts for trans becoming.

The screen is awash with vibrant shades of pink. Distorted human figures, generated by the AI animation and evoking the fluidity of gender and identity, traverse the screen. As the artist self-administers the injection, the details of the act are camouflaged within the visual tapestry, prompting viewers to engage in a deeper level of observation, engaging the audience in a delicate dance between visibility and ambiguity. While some details are brought to the forefront, others remain shrouded, underscoring the nuance complexities of representation.

The title itself serves as a metaphor, drawing attention to the unsettling trend observed by the artist of younger queer artists using Christian iconography as symbols of liberation. Through titling this work as such, the work demands contemplation on the fraught relationship between the church and its relationship to queer persecution, while raising questions about the reclamation of symbols and narratives. There is intentionally no reference to the title to be found in the work, as the artist is not convinced that the Christian church and its language, as a cultural force has anything to offer queer people. This work is the beginning of a new series of scholarship and art that focuses on contemporary loneliness and eradication of community spaces by examining cultural trends of taking communal ritual and turning it into individual practice in pursuit of enlightenment or self-care in context of late-stage Capitalism and the United States.

“The Halo is a Symbol of Our Death” is a video artwork that delves into the intersections of technology, trans experience, and the juxtaposition of Christian iconography with queer liberation. The work centers around a deeply personal act: the injection of estrogen by the artist, a trans woman, capturing an intimate and transformative moment. The video unfolds through a dynamic interplay of two camera angles, seamlessly interwoven with animations generated by AI using the artist’s action art prompts for trans becoming.

The screen is awash with vibrant shades of pink. Distorted human figures, generated by the AI animation and evoking the fluidity of gender and identity, traverse the screen. As the artist self-administers the injection, the details of the act are camouflaged within the visual tapestry, prompting viewers to engage in a deeper level of observation, engaging the audience in a delicate dance between visibility and ambiguity. While some details are brought to the forefront, others remain shrouded, underscoring the nuance complexities of representation.

The title itself serves as a metaphor, drawing attention to the unsettling trend observed by the artist of younger queer artists using Christian iconography as symbols of liberation. Through titling this work as such, the work demands contemplation on the fraught relationship between the church and its relationship to queer persecution, while raising questions about the reclamation of symbols and narratives. There is intentionally no reference to the title to be found in the work, as the artist is not convinced that the Christian church and its language, as a cultural force has anything to offer queer people. This work is the beginning of a new series of scholarship and art that focuses on contemporary loneliness and eradication of community spaces by examining cultural trends of taking communal ritual and turning it into individual practice in pursuit of enlightenment or self-care in context of late-stage Capitalism and the United States.