Hollow: A Banishing Ritual

for string quartet, electric guitar, Electronics, and spoken word poet

2022

Commissioned by The Playground Ensemble with financial support from the Denver Music Advancement Fund.

*Content Note: This piece includes expressions of transphobia, misogyny, sexual harassment, sexually explicit messages & discrimination/stigma against sex workers.

Hollow: A Banishing Ritual, explores the paradox of being both de-sexualized and hyper-sexualized as a transgender person. In public, mainstream narratives of desirability often preclude transgender bodies, but in private, in the anonymity of dating apps, I have experienced far more harassment and objectification from cisgender men (both gay and straight) after transitioning.

Using found text from cisgender men on dating apps, Hollow unveils the public/private paradox of cis men’s desire for trans bodies, unearths the hollowness of affection fueled by objectification, and asks how we can reach for each other’s humanity.

For me this piece is about coming out about these experiences in an effort to understand them, heal from them, and be witnessed in them to release what’s getting in the way of intimacy.

During the live performance of this piece, audience members are invited to take part in this ritual of release, by answering the question:

What do you need to release to come closer to yourself and others?

Responses were collected before the piece and you will hear some responses read out loud in the video before all responses were released.