soundbodysovereignstories
Growing out of a Western classical musical training in piano and vocal arts, Rafael/a has used performance art and ritual to uproot colonized musical traditions from his body and return to the power of Indigneous musical traditions that he was denied. As a capoeirista, danzante (Azteca dance and ceremony), and firekeeper, he now draws upon his ceremonial and martial arts practices to translate the trans-ancestral knowledge that pushes him to create. He continues to mix sound, sacred spaces, movement, and breath to explore the trans body as genesis, the trans body as displacement, the trans body as land, and the trans body as ceremony.
performance rituals
& altars
Just me and my bading
multi-media sound installation/altar
Meryenda (Have You Eaten x Kasama), Kasama Arts Space
Unceded Coast Salish Territory, 2023
Baklang Kabahayan: Saan ba tayo papunta?
Doon, Ngayon at sa Darating Panahon.
Where are you heading?
There, Now and in the Coming Season
nipa hut, 6’ x 6’ x 7’, bamboo, harakeke, found materials
Performance Arcade
Te Whanaganui-ā-Tara, Aotearoa, 2021
INDAK KANIKANI
multi-media altar and durational performance ritual
Neverproject Space
Kirikiriroa, Aotearoa, 2020
glimpses from past performances/installations (2020-2023)