18 July: Júlia Machindano / Jupiter Child
TIME: 18 July 12.00-24.00h
START: Blågårdsgade, Copenhagen N
CATEGORY: Multidisciplinary artist
Live-stream every hour on the hour on www.facebook.com/walkingcopenhagen
THE BLACK QUEER BODY
Being an African black person in a foreign country is a wonderful thing. You get to experience a new culture and new people, all coming from different walks of life. But what do we know about each other? And are we open to learn without being dismissive of experiences that we don’t relate to?
Living in Denmark as a migrant, an Afro-Danish, a PAD (person of African descent) a bipoc (black, indigenous and person of colour), gay and lesbian, I get to experience queerness in its totality – firstly related to my black identity, secondly to my sexuality. That makes my existence queer by default. Understanding queerness from being the “other”, the stranger, foreigner, migrant, outsider.
I use my artistic practice and platform to educate, inform and represent these informal bodies, especially during these times of ‘all lives matter’ including black lives. By using my body as a queer vehicle transporting and expressing stories related to me and other “black queer bodies”, I intend to make it a visible representation.
Denmark is still awkward and rather un-engaged when it comes to the knowledge of its colonial past. That makes it difficult to explain what racism or classism is to some, while simultaneously facing ignorant micro aggressions of racism and discrimination.
Is this a Danish problem or a white problem? And how do I, as a black queer person, enable and perpetuate this behaviour consciously or unconsciously? I am not a victim, and white people cannot save me, even if they wished to. Change has to come from the black queer bodies themselves.
I’m going to walk in search of spotting unfamiliar queer locations in Copenhagen. I want to occupy these locations as well as make reflections from a black queer body. I will be experimenting with different acts through installation, poetry, performance and reflections on this topic of black queer bodies. It is important to amplify radical change in order to move towards finding our commonalities.
DOCUMENTATION JULY 18
FILM
12.00 h
13.00 h
14.00 h
15.00 h
16.00 h
17.00 h
18.00 h
19.00 h
20.00 h – 1
20.00 h – 2
21.00 h
22.00 h
23.00 h
24.00 h
ABOUT THE ARTIST
I’m Julia, and my artist name is Jupiter Child. I am a Mozambican-born queer performer and visual artist based in Copenhagen. I draw inspiration mainly from my African history, my Makonde ancestry, and the black arts movement. My works combine, theatre, dance, song, spoken word and storytelling. I describe my art as an anti-colonial intervention that speaks of resistance, womanism/feminism, migration, queerness and empowerment.
Creativity is an ancient intuition. Art is a modern institution. I use my creativity to claim space in the world, and personally tell the stories of my life and the lives before me. I write and tell stories about blackness also to challenge the misconceptions of my identity. My works are unapologetic and are simply meant to inspire growth and healing in this common world. My works are closely related to my life experiences, where I explore the residuals of post-coloniality and some of its history still affecting black bodies.
My previous performance works include “Julia and 500 years of freedom”, where I explored themes of race, immigration, transnationality, liberation, queerness, gender and Christian influence in Africa. And “Shut up Anastasia” that explored the tools of torture used to silence voices of women. Currently I’ve been working with visual art works through painting, fabric collage, etc.
