Cello performance by Chris Ellis. Chris performed a mixture of music written by Marissa Baez and music from his intuitive response to the music and the performance, thus a new composition was formed from the energy of the room. In this performance planned by Marissa Baez, the audience is invited to participate in this healing performance.
Chris Ellis Instagram link
https://www.instagram.com/c_ellis_t?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==
https://www.yellowbarn.org/artist/chris-ellis
The sculpture was originally made in 2019. This is the first community performance done with this sculpture.
Absence
Is a early work created in 2019 that initiated working with ash in their creative practice. During that time Baez was researching Mexican American histories in Texas. The previous spring Baez had been in conversation with Dr. Rosalva Resendiz, co-creator of EL Muro. EL Muro discusses land dispossession involving a Lipan Apache elder’s struggle with homeland security. Leading Baez to create two artworks for Lipan Apache elder Dr. Eloisa Tamez. El Muro mentions the actions of the Texas Rangers and the fear they imposed on marginalized communities. After hearing about Texas Rangers’ action Baez came across Injustice Never Leaves You Anti-Mexican Violence in Texas by Monica Munoz Martinez. Injustice Never Leaves You includes oral histories of first-hand experiences of the violence enacted on ethnic Mexican bodies. In the first two displays of Absence, the marking makings are intuitive responses to personal/inter-generational and researched experiences that marginalized bodies face. In this current iteration of Absence, the ash performance serves to release any ailments participants carry. I have opened my ash performances to everyone by creating my own Curanderismo rituals to focus on healing.