SOURCE THEATRE AND OFF SITE LOCATIONS

Never in Our Image

Stephanie Mercedes

Never in Our Image is a three-part, Queer gun destruction opera.

IN THIS OPERA, BY QUEERING SOUND AND METAL, WE ASK OURSELVES THE QUESTION:

HOW CAN WE RECLAIM MATERIALS THAT WERE NEVER MADE IN OUR IMAGE?   

Never in Our Image is a three-part experimental opera that presents Mercedes’ process of gun transformation through sound. Mercedes creates musical instruments and sonic sculptures from reclaimed guns. Through cutting, melting, and utilizing instruments cast from weapons Mercedes composes musical scores. The work forces the archetype of violence into its opposite: the beauty of music and art. This three-part performance invites the public to become a part of the cathartic experience of gun transformation.

Never in Our Image Cast

Mercedes is an uncategorized Queer Latinx artist who choreographs large scale performances and installations based in sound. Mercedes transforms weapons into musical installations and works of art.

Mercedes has exhibited and performed at the Bronx Museum, the Queens Museum, the Smithsonian, the Kennedy Center and the National Gallery of Art. She has been funded by George Soros’ Open Society Foundation, Light Works, NALAC, The Foundation for Contemporary Art, WPA, The DC Commission for the Arts, the GLB Memorial Foundation, the Warhol Foundation and the Clarvit Fellowship. 

Artist Talkback moderated by Ashley Molese

Thursday, September 21st, following the performance

Ashley Molese is an independent curator and cultural producer. She specializes in site-specific commissions, collaborating with artists to conceive and produce large-scale installations in traditional spaces and outdoor environments. Her work focuses on the intersections of art, science, and technology and incorporates universal design principles into public engagement. Her past curatorial projects include FUTURES at the Smithsonian Arts + Industries Building, Light City, Artscape, the Baltimore Book Festival, School 33 Arts Center, the Overload Poetry Festival, and Arts Access Victoria. She provides public art consulting for galleries and festivals, non-profit and corporate partners, and arts and entertainment districts.

Ashley received a Master of Fine Arts in Curatorial Practice at the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2014 and completed her Master of Arts in Arts Management from RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, in 2010. She is based in Washington, D.C.

Only ticket holders for September 21st may attend.

ACT III - GUN TRANSFORMATION OPERA

September 15, 16, 21, 22, & 23 2023

SOURCE THEATRE - 1835 14th Street NW, Washington, DC, 20009

Using the captured audio, instruments, and sonic sculptures created in the previous acts, Mercedes and a team of LGBTQ+ performers composed and collaborated on the final installation of the three-part series at CulturalDC’s Blackbox Theatre. Through operatic singing, dance, percussion, techno, and contact microphones the performance asked: how can the act of un-naming (sound, metal, weapons) be queer? 

ACT II - A GUN MELTING CEREMONY

JULY 8TH, 2023, Otis Street ARts Project

ACT II, a gun melting ceremony, is the second step in the gun transformation process. Queer singers, dancers, percussionists, and metal workers responded to the sounds and process of melting guns and re-casting into instruments and sonic sculptures. Singers chant “Cambia” (change) and “Queeremos” (queering). The techno music was composed with the sounds of the furnace.

ACT I - A GUN CUTTING CEREMONY

May 19th, 2023

ACT I, a gun cutting ceremony, is the first step in the transformation process. Singers, musicians, and dancers responded to the various sounds of guns being cut into pieces. Pitches and tones were pulled from the raw sound of angle grinders, blow torches, and hand saws. The process of composition reflects the process of destruction. 

Photo & video credit: Amir Pourmand