Light of Ours
Performance Studies Alum Eva Reyes (M.A. ’20) will premiere her new work ‘Light of Ours’ on December 31, 2020, 11pm-1am PST via live stream.
This upcoming work invites you to collectively mourn the loss of black lives, time, as well as a sense of normalcy through the gathering and lighting of ritual candles. Eva is seeking donations to ask you the spectator to accompany her in this performance. Reyes says of the candles, “In gathering candle donations, the audience acknowledges their own grief as well as the artist's. Simply put, your candle is you joining me in the mourning. My hope, is to collect an overflowing amount of white ritual candles. Where there is darkness, together, we will provide light. These candles will fill every inch of my living room, kitchen, and office until the candle light spills out the front door; allowing the light to flow in and out the domestic space just as grief has done so throughout this tumultuous year.”
"Many of you have asked, why are you collecting donations for this performance?
The simple answer is, I want you to accompany me. Though we have not been physically together for sometime, we have all been grieving. Whether it’s the loss of life, time, a job, a sense of normalcy, we have been mourning. Beyond a “misery loves company” mindset, I think it’s helpful to imagine what it might mean for us to simply acknowledge each other’s grief. I want to push the question; how can we grieve together?
How can we conjure hope together?
My best attempt to address these questions was to answer with ritual performance. If there is one thing we can do, it is light a candle. Bring some flicker of hope in a time that has been so very dark. Grief alone is hard, but together (even if at a distance) we can find some comfort in allowing our mourning to be an agent for change; an agent for reinvention."
Taking place the last week of December this performance will ask, what might we conjure when we accompany each other in grief? How might an acknowledgement of the dead create an entry point to embracing blackness as porousness; that is, an invitation to open and absorb mourning as an active agent for reinvention.
Feel free to reach out to Eva if you’d like to send candles directly (she can reimburse you for shipping if needed) or if you’d like to donate funds to purchase candles on your behalf. Eva's hope is to light 600 candles and let the light take over her home just as grief has done so throughout this year.
