"Curatorial Statement"
"(a)eromestizaje" is my concept for identity and culture, influenced by previous generations of queer feminists of color such as Gloria Anzaldua and Cherrie Moraga. "(a)-eromestizaje" recognizes the need for women of color, particularly mixed race women of color who are conscious of our complex role in the world in negotiating the voices of our many ancestors, to participate in sexual healing and to reclaim the erotic power which has been taken away from us by our colonizers and our own brothers and fathers (before, during and after colonialism). "(a)eromestizaje" points to possibilities for transformation in understanding the fluid, aerodynamic and ethereal manifestations and celebrations of subversive hybridity.

Press Release, April 2001
Asian American Theatre Company presents (a)eromestiza in collaboration with the National Queer Arts Festival and the Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center, curated by Gigi Otalvaro-Hormillosa
hybridity

Program 1: Fri. 5/25 8pm & Sat. 5/26 9pm, $12
(Lorraine Bautista, Eliza Barrios, Iraya Robles and Gigi Otalvaro-Hormillosa)
Program 2: Sat. 5/26 7pm & Sun 5/27 8pm, $15
(Julie Tolentino with Julie Fowells, Madeleine Lim with Jill Togawa, Michelle Bolong, Barbara Malaran)

SomArts 934 Brannan Street between 8th and 9th Streets in San Francisco
Reservations: Asian American Theatre Company @ 415.440.5545 or info@asianamericantheater.org
Websites: www.asianamericantheater.org or www.apiculturalcenter.org

This event showcases works by queer, Pinay, API and mixed heritage women from San Francisco and New York City, featuring live performance, video, and installation. Participating artists will challenge stereotypical representations of identity, community, sex, and eroticism by exploring these issues through the aerodynamic filter of a new "mestizaje" in which there is a constant, yet fluid interplay between racial and sexual identities. (a)eromestiza will offer experimental, text-based, visual, video-based, movement and theoretical perspectives on race, gender, sexuality and the endurance of the mind and body of the queer API woman as she exists and moves through the world.

New York City based performance artist and club scene legend Julie Tolentino makes her San Francisco (hometown) debut with The Bottom Project, featuring live violin by Julie Fowells and computer synthesized music by F100. The Bottom Project unfolds as a series of dramatic vignettes and startling visual landscapes to illuminate the complex secrets of modern desire and its alliance with memory, loss, and identity. Filmmaker Madeleine Lim presents "Dream," a visually hypnotic video about the joy and sensuality of the hula dance with a soulful interpretation, performed by Purple Moon Dance Company's Artistic Director, Jill Togawa. Lorraine Bautista's Candida La Vida is a work-in-progress performance exploring aspects of process, development, and identity in a culture where convenience is a commodity that leads to saturation and overabundance. Eliza Barrios' installation explores the concept of internal/external belief systems that arise from individual experiences of class, sexuality, gender, region, and other cultural differences. Michelle Bolong's Woman Warrior of Breath is a work in progress that combines martial arts with modern dance. Having just returned from her North East tour, curator and participating artist Gigi Otalvaro-Hormillosa will present the San Francisco premiere of her first video based on Inverted Minstrel, a performance diorama that challenges racial binary systems of thought by questioning and problematizing the politics of hip hop in various "cultures of resistance." Iso Mahal, I Have No Regrets and Mammoth are three video pieces by New York based filmmaker Barbara Malaran who creates personal narrative from travel, construction and mutating bodies. Iraya Robles' Tragic Mestiza is a Sci-Fi-style performance and video mapping of the past and the present, of the real and the imagined. This psychic tour challenges assumptions around race, gender and class, recalling an SF-in-the-70's girlhood.


(a)eromestiza is a production of the Asian American Theater Company which celebrates its 28th anniversary season dedicated to promoting the development of theater which examines the multiple perspectives of the Asian Pacific American experience. As individual artists and as an organization, we seek to challenge our audiences artistically and politically. Special thanks to the Consortium of Cultural Centers, SomArts, Lunasea Women's Performance Project, Lesbians in the Visual Arts, Queer Latino/a Artists Coalition and Galería de la Raza.