We Make The Banal Feel Spectacular
- Mae Eskenazi
- Weitzman School of Design (PennDesign)
“We Make The Banal Feel Spectacular” explores the ways queer and trans disabled kin relate to, care for, and witness one another. It is an anthology of exchanges, a positioning of “carework” as an event, spell, and rehearsed choreography. The first phase of the project is relational—a blurring of boundaries between laborer and recipient, actor and witness, spectacle and the everyday magic that is queer crip existence. Tarot reading, magic, co-conspiring, reading out loud, or laying side by side are all crip offerings, and are just a few of the ways in which collaborators will engage with one another, in turn, expanding already existing care webs. The second phase of this project consists of a large-scale portrait series that invites collaborators to imagine themselves in relation to disabled saints and ancestors. The resulting photographs will be framed and exhibited with altar offerings for aforementioned disabled ancestors. This series will also be presented on an accessible website coded to meet a range of access needs including visual, mobile, and auditory impairments. The online website will also be presented so that new collaborators are invited to share their own portraits and exchanges with people in their lives. In this way, the online archive not only makes the witnessing of the project accessible but presents a portal for participation and community building as well.