Arena Performance, Emilio Rojas: “Open Wound: A Gloria”

December 9th, 2023, 5-6:30 PM

Centering borders as sites of trauma, the ongoing work and multimedia piece Open Wounds: A Gloria commemorates the queer mestiza theorist Gloria Anzaldúa while making visible the difficulties met by thousands of migrants who cross the U.S.-Mexico border each year. For Rojas’ performance, tattoo artist Sujetka dry tattoos the outline of the border on the artist’s back. The point of crossing becomes a wound and a blurred geographic line on Rojas’s body. To tackle the pain of the tattooing, Rojas clenches Anzaldúa’s seminal book Borderlands / La Frontera: The New Mestiza between his teeth—finding comfort in her words he makes visible the struggle and resilience of immigrants in the United States.