Hosted by Nicolás Dumit Estévez Raful Espejo Ovalles
Video documentation of the Franklin Furnace LOFT event A Performance Trinity: Nao Bustamante, Marga Gomez and Carmelita Tropicana presented on October 21, 2022 at 6:30PM – 8:00PM ET on Zoom. Hosted by Nicolás Dumit Estévez, and presented in partnership with the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art.
Find out What happened when three Queer Latina/x performance art luminaries gather for an evening of laughter, conversation and reflections? Considering humor as a strategy for survival in navigating race, gender, immigration through the generations and today, what does it mean to be Latina/x right now? What does it mean to embrace and reject labels? The guests for this unconventional program have used cabaret, stand-up comedy, video, live TV, writing and film to voice some of the pressing issues of the times: from colonization to political embargoes to exile. They have also relied on humor to deliver messages that are not always easy to convey, and have gone so far as to fight for the plight against the U.S. appropriation of the Cuban Mojito, pose as a “real” exhibitionist at the late Joan Rivers’ talk show, and claim a toilet plunger as an objet d’art.
Those in attendance got to be blessed by the presence of these three cult figures and, of course, to ask them questions.
October 21, 2022
6:30 pm - 8:00 pm ET
Artist Bios
Nao Bustamante
Nao Bustamante is a legendary artist, residing in Los Angeles, California. Bustamante’s precarious work encompasses performance art, video installation, filmmaking, sculpture and writing. The New York Times says, “She has a knack for using her body.” Bustamante has presented in Galleries, Museums, Universities and underground sites all around the world.
She has exhibited, among other locales, at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, the New York Museum of Modern Art, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Sundance International Film Festival/New Frontier, Outfest International Film Festival, El Museo del Barrio Museum of Contemporary Art, First International Performance Biennial, Deformes in Santiago, Chile and the Kiasma Museum of Helsinki. She was also an unlikely contestant on TV network, Bravo’s “Work of Art: The Next Great Artist.” In 2001 she received the Anonymous Was a Woman fellowship and in 2007 named a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellow, as well as a Lambent Fellow. In 2008 She received the Chase Legacy award in Film (In conjunction with Kodak and HBO). And was the Artist in Residence of the American Studies Association in 2012. In 2013, Bustamante was awarded the (Short-term) CMAS-Benson Latin American Collection Research Fellowship and also a Makers Muse Award from the Kindle Foundation. In 2014/15 Bustamante was Artist in Residence at UC Riverside and in 2015 she was a UC MEXUS Scholar in Residence in preparation for a solo exhibit at Vincent Price Art Museum in Los Angeles. In 2020 Bustamante’s VR film, “The Wooden People” received a producing grant from the Mike Kelley Foundation, and the National Performance Network and will be presented at REDCAT in 2021. 2021 also brought her success with her new research project, “BLOOM,” in which she is determined to redesign the speculum and take a stern look at the history of the pelvic examination. “BLOOM” has been supported by COLA (City of Los Angeles) fellowship, an Artpace Residency, and a USC Arts and Humanities award.
Bustamante is alum of the San Francisco Art Institute, and in 2020 she was awarded an honorary doctorate degree from her alma mater, SFAI. She also attend Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. Currently she holds the position of Professor of Art at the USC Roski School of Art and Design.
For past work, see: www.naobustamante.com For current activities, see: www.instagram.com/naobustamante
Image Description: Nao Bustamante performs in BLOOM.
Marga Gomez
MARGA GOMEZ (She,Her,They,Them) is the writer/performer of fourteen solo plays which have been presented nationally, internationally and virtually. She is an awardee of a 2022 USA Fellowship, a 2021 Center For Cultural Innovation grant and a GLAAD Media Award. Her acting credits include theatre roles: American Conservatory Theater’s “Fefu And Her Friends” 2022, Off-Broadway Ars Nova production of “Dr. Rides American Beach House” (2019) and television “Sense8” (Netflix.) NBC named her one of eleven “Out Latinos you should know.” Gomez teaches autobiographical performance online at margagomez.com.
Image Description: Medium photo of salt and pepper short haired gender non-conformist smiling off to the right, with a big gap toothed smile. Person is in front of an orange background wearing a light blue cotton shirt and a black and white polka dot ascot.
Carmelita Tropicana
Carmelita Tropicana is a writer and performer, who uses irreverent humor and fantasy to challenge cultural stereotypes and rewrite history from multiple perspectives. By performing hyperbolic feminine and masculine personas, as well as numerous animals, insects, and fantasy creatures, she challenges historical and narrative authority. Her work addresses political issues and looks at the intersections that exist between ethnicity, sexuality, gender, race and class. Awards and fellowships include: LatinX Artists Fellowship (2022), United States Artists Fellowship (2021), CLAGS, Center for Lesbian and Gays Studies José Muñoz Award (2021), Guggenheim Fellowship (2017), Creative Capital (2016) Anonymous Was A Woman (2005), and an Obie (1999).
Her writing has appeared in many anthologies, most recently in Animal Acts, Performing Species Today (University of Michigan Press, 2015). A collection of scripts, short stories and essay appear in her book I, Carmelita Tropicana, Performing Between Cultures (2000) published by Beacon Press. She sits on the Board of Directors of the New York Foundation for the Arts and Soho Rep.
Her long time collaborators are Ela Troyano and Uzi Parnes.
Image Description: Carmelita in costume used for her performance with Ela Troyano for Mundos Alternos: Art and Science Fiction in the Americas, UCR ArtsBlock, Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA, Los Angeles, 2018.
Moderator Bio
Nicolás Dumit Estévez Raful Espejo Ovalles
Nicolás Dumit Estévez Raful Espejo Ovalles treads an elusive path that manifests itself performatively through creative experiences that he helps unfold within the quotidian. Born in Quisqueya (Mother of all lands), he was baptized as a Bronxite, a citizen of the Bronx, in 2011. Nicolás is the founding director of The Interior Beauty Salon, an organism living at the intersection of creativity and healing: www.interiorbeautysalon.com @interiorbeautysalon
Image description: Nicolás, Middle-age person of mixed-race background with mouth wide open as if surprised pleasantly by an unexpected occurrence. Longish wavy hair sticking up. He is wearing plastic blue spectacles with horizontal stripes across where glass would usually be.
The Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art provides a platform for artistic exploration through multi-faceted queer perspectives. We embrace the power of the arts to inspire, explore, and foster understanding of the rich diversity of LGBTQIA+ experiences. Through annual exhibitions, public programs, educational initiatives, artist fellowships, and a journal, LLMA forefronts the interrelationship of art and social justice for LGBTQIA+ communities in NYC and beyond. Our collection includes over 25,000 objects spanning 4 centuries of queer art.
The Museum is generously supported, in part, by public funds from Mellon Foundation, The Institute of Museum and Library Services, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the New York City Council. Programmatic support is also provided by the Achilles Family Fund; Booth Ferris Foundation; Keith Haring Foundation; John Burton Harter Foundation; and the Henry Luce Foundation. Individual support is proudly provided by the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art’s Board of Trustees and Global Ambassadors.
Co-presented by FF Loft and Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art made possible with funds from the NYSCA Electronic Media/Film in Partnership with Wave Farm: Media Arts Assistance Fund, with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
