Call for Participants!
Trans Justice Art Action in Washington, DC

“Etched in Light" is a Trans Justice Art Action of 100+ trans, ENBY and GNC artists: using our collective power and presence to create the one of the world's largest cyanotypes on Trans Day of Visibility. This performance Is in service of National Center for Transgender Equality Together we will create a mediagenic spectacle, steering attention towards registering the trans, nonbinary, and intersex vote as a viable and powerful voting block!

Click "JOIN US" above to participate!

WHERE:
National Mall
March 31, 2024 | 11:00am - 2:00pm
Jefferson St SW & 7th St SW
Washington, DC

Etched in Light is a participatory visual art and sonic performance led by @cassilsartist in collaboration with the National Center for Transgender Equality @transequalitynow and 100 trans artists with vocal invocations and musical scoring by Blood Is Here (Carmina Escobar, Roco Córdova and dorian).

On Sunday, March 31st at 12:00pm we will create the world's largest cyanotype banners by casting the silhouettes of our still bodies onto large canvas panels, etching ourselves in light. We will call upon the imagery and affective energies of lie-ins, die-ins, and the historic NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt to claim space for our trans and gender expansive selves, transforming the National Mall into a site of beauty. We are seeking transgender and gender expansive participants to join in the performance as Cyanotype co-creators!

If you are interested in participating, click the big "Join us" button above to submit your details. Please read the details of what participation will entail if selected. We will be having a Zoom Intro/Rehearsal the week of March 25th. You will be guided through the process of creating the cyanotype on-site just ahead of the performance so please arrive by 11:00am.

GRATITUDE: Cassils will give all participants a limited edition photograph of our collective creation as a thank you for your contribution.

details

Cassils shows their work internationally.
Solo exhibitions include:

Ronald Feldman Fine Arts Macedonia Museum of Fine Arts; Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, Omaha; Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts; School of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston; MU Eindhoven, Netherlands; Trinity Square Video, Toronto

Cassils’ work has been featured in museums and galleries world-wide:

Deutsches Historisches Museum and the Schwules Museum, Berlin; Institute for Contemporary Art and The National Theatre, London; MUCA Roma, Mexico City; Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco; Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions; Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, Salt Lake City; ANTI Contemporary Performance Festival, Kuopio, Finland; Museo da Imagem e do Som, São Paulo, Brazil; Museo de Arte y Diseño Contemporáneo, San José, Costa Rica; and Deutsches Historishes Museum, Berlin, Germany

Cassils is the recipient of:

USA Artist Fellowship (2018), Guggenheim Fellowship (2017), Creative Capital Award (2015)

Cassils’ work has been featured in:

New York Times, Boston Globe, Artforum, Hyperallergic, Wired, The Guardian UK, TDR, Performance Research, Art Journal, Vogue Brazil

Cassils’ films have premiered at:

Sundance Film Festival (Utah), Out Fest (Los Angeles), The Institute for Contemporary Art (London)

Cassils received their bachelor’s degree from Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and a Masters degree in visual arts and integrated media from the California Institute of the Arts. Cassils has adjudicated exhibition selections at Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions and currently is a lecturer in the Art Department at Stanford University. Cassils is the curator of Vital Signs, a performance series at Stanford University which aims to highlight and showcase underrepresented performance forms such as experimental performance art, durational art, and body art.

UPCOMING EVENTS AND TALKS
‍Artist Talks in Bremen, Germany: May 6 & 7, 2020
Artist Talk at Barbican, London: May 2020

UPCOMING PERFORMANCES
‍Centre Pompidou, Paris, France, Becoming an Image (Summer 2020)
SMOQUA—Festival of Feminist and Queer Culture 2020, Rijeka, Croatia, PRESSED (May 21-23, 2020)
‍Banff Center for Arts and Creativity, Banff, Canada, Human Measure (July 16, 2020)

UPCOMING RESIDENCY
Cassils will be in Residence at the BANFF Centre for Arts and Creativity, as part of the Fleck Fellowship from March 9-25. Cassils is preparing for their forthcoming solo show at the Walter Phillips Gallery, and developing a new performance: Human Measure.

The Armory Show, Ronald Feldman Gallery, New York, NY (March 4- 8, 2020)

‍Fluidity, Zentrum für Zeitgenössische Kunst, at Syker Vorwerk, Berlin (Feb 23- May 17, 2020)

‍Wellcome Collection, Being Human, London, UK (Permanent Exhibition)

‍Barbican, Masculinities: Liberation Through Photography, London, UK, (Feb 20- May 17, 2020)

‍Gardiner Museum, RAW, Toronto, CA (March 5- June 7, 2020; Performance: Feb 20, 2020). Featuring new commission: Up To and Including Their Limits (live performance on February 20, 2020)

‍Tang Museum, Skidmore College, FLEX, Saratoga Springs, NY (Feb 22, 2020- June 7, 2020)

‍Craft Contemporary, The Body, The Object, The Other Los Angeles, CA (January 25, 2020 – May 10, 2020)
‍
Walter Phillips Gallery, Solo Show, BANFF Centre, Canada (Summer 2020)

‍Ackland Art Museum, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Trans/American: Gender, Identity, Appearance Today, Chapel Hill, NC (Fall 2020)

‍Hessel Museum, Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College, Annondale-on-Hudson (May 2020)

Etched in Light

Join us!