series

bang bang 2014. "this series follows the narrative of a set of dresses reaching enlightenment… being worn by a bachelorette party in ptown . the pilgrimage would visit many of the towns places of worship, where they participated in the local rituals and aggressively sought out religious leaders. the only thing that made this day trip more memorable was the song of the summer playing on the radio, bang bang. " growing up in south texas i was regularly bombarded with reminders of the extremely conservative culture i was surrounded by. i thought i had a pretty firm grasp of logic and modicum of morality, but found myself baffled over most of the views around religion, guns, and all things queer. the cult like idolization of fire arms gave those who felt weak in the world some semblance of comfort. believing that one day only the most fervent believers would have their souls plucked from this planet leaving shells of humans all around our hell scape; it’s a hysterical visual till you remember that’s the very reality created by our many mass shooting. we were also growing up in the 80’s & 90’s were the media representation of being gay was firmly around AIDS and the demonization of all things queer. i moved to boston in 1996 and started frequenting ptown in 2001. it was such a culture shock for my brain i’m sure i acted a fool all over town, and i was sober so i have some sympathy for those that lose themselves in the freedom. i still refer to this place as “over the rainbow”, like some magical imaginary place that only exists in a fairytale. there is also an unspoken energy about town where you often find yourself on guard to handle some level of entitlement. it’s a resort town so the main source of life is tourism in one way or another. then there were the bachelorette parties seemingly visiting town like a they would a petting zoo with little to no self-awareness. with all these heavy experiences and ideas floating around my head i often turn to humor to make the conversations more accessible. also life in ptown is very "choose your own adventure" (much like this work) so enjoy your soundtrack.