Being & Becoming

Being & Becoming is a collection of interviews regarding queer visibility, representation, and authorship in media; accompanied by a Care Guide for white and non-Black PoC artists who are committed to the work of dismantling white supremacy and transphobia in their work. Post-Supremacy Portal is a vision of Philly after dismantling all cultures of violence and finally achieving a self-determined and reciprocal coexistence. The project serves as a call to use critical, intersectional politics in creating systems of radical support for QTBIPoC, shapeshifting to evade commodification, and embodying a constant state of becoming in our work and relationships.

Eva Wǒ is a multidisciplinary visual artist from New Mexico and based in Philadelphia since 2010. Wǒ uses photography, collage, and moving image to cast spells of vibrant queer liberation somewhere between fantasy and futurism. She is a recipient of the Leeway Transformation Award ‘17-18, is a CFEVA Visual Artist Fellow ‘19-21, Elsewhere Exchange Fellow ‘19, and 40th Street AIR ‘16-17. Currently she produces Hot Bits, a traveling, immersive creative placemaking series that utilizes pornography, performance, and digital media as social practice to transform spaces into momentary dimensions of uncensored queer liberation for kinky, sex-positive QTBIPoC and sex workers.

This work was part of Power Map: Historic Mural Activations, a series of five commissioned events, performances and workshops activating murals created in Mural Arts Philadelphia’s first 20 years (1984-2003) that depict power and empowerment. Five diverse figurative murals served as the starting point for an exploration of the history of their creation and the neighborhood change that the murals have witnessed. They also offered a prompt for thinking about how power is depicted in public art today and in the recent past. Featured artists include Mark Strandquist & Courtney Bowles with Tripod, Studio 22 (Nasheli Juliana Ortiz, Marién Vélez and Lorna Mulero), Eva Wǒ, Marie Alarcon and Ken McFarlane. This project has been developed on the occasion of MAP’s 35th anniversary by guest curator-in-residence Daniel Tucker.

Experience the Post-Supremacy Portal

See Being & Becoming as part of Mural Art Philadelphia’s Power Map: Historic Mural Activations