Description

Those Big Brown (Almost Black) Gay Eyes, filmed by Darrin Faires, is a video where I perform my mother’s actions: primping, adjusting, dressing in her home in Columbus, OH. I take on her appearance and gestures to empathize with her. Performing as her is to better understand her experiences in times where my queerness has strained yet deepened our bond. As I’ve queered my mother, I also queer her real personal objects by drenching them in crystals, sequins, and glitter. I perform to my mother’s voice reciting passages from her diary entries about me. The transformation of my mother, her voice, and her personal objects, intentionally blur the authorship between mother and child, complicating and celebrating a dialogue across gender, genealogy, and time.