"It was very challenging in ways that I'm continuing to mend from and rest with. It is not inexpensive on my body and spirit. That cost I knew would be there. Currently showing at Los Angeles's California African American Museum (CAAM) is These Waking Glories, Whitson's solo show displaying a variety of photos and other pieces in conjunction with these ceremonies."
"Whitson chose to make each of the pedestals exactly 61 inches tall so as to make audiences slow down to pay attention to them, and to interact with them in a way that garnered the respect that each individual being honored deserved. It was an important decision so that there would be a reverential distance."
"I was thinking about the way that shrines in the Yoruba tradition are created, some of which are not accessible to the public or uninitiated members of community."
Between 2021 and 2025, artist Sage Ni'Ja Whitson traveled to 91 locations across 15 states where trans, gender nonconforming, or intersex individuals had died by murder or suicide. At each site, Whitson conducted personal ceremonies to bear witness to these deaths. The resulting exhibition, These Waking Glories, now showing at the California African American Museum in Los Angeles, features photographs and commemorative pieces. A central installation consists of 90 pedestals, each 61 inches tall, topped with jars containing essences gathered from each site and velvet stoles bearing the deceased's names. Two pedestals remain unnamed, representing unknown victims. Whitson designed the pedestals' height to encourage viewers to slow down and show appropriate respect, drawing inspiration from Yoruba shrine traditions.
#trans-and-gender-nonconforming-memorialization #contemporary-art-and-social-justice #ceremonial-witness-and-grief #racial-and-gender-minority-violence
Read at www.theguardian.com
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