(RE)IMAGINING GREENPOINT'S GREEN WATERS
A SITE-SPECIFIC DOCUMENTARY THEATER PIECE ABOUT THE HISTORY ENVIRONMENTAL VIOLENCE AT NEWTOWN CREEK
WRITTEN/DIRECTED BY: RAY JORDAN ACHAN
PRODUCED BY: EXILED TONGUES
Project History
2022:
Recipient of the 2022 Creative Equations Fund: Justice, Equity, Sustainability + Performing Arts Grant from the Brooklyn Arts Council
Commissioned as part of Water Connectors: an artistic project by Works on Water that commissions four public art projects that will connect NYC communities vulnerable to the effects of climate change with their waterfront, and with each other.
2021:
Commissioned as part of Tending The Edge: Caring for the NYC coastline and its communities, now and in the future.
ABOUT: (Re)Imagining Greenpoint’s Green Waters integrates artistic programming with community sustainability initiatives to bring wider attention to the polluted waters of Newtown Creek, offering methods that use community participation, techniques of ARTIVISM within an abolitionist framework, and aesthetics of “Theater of the Oppressed” to promote remediation of the Creek and bring the climate justice conversation to marginalized communities. Through collaboration with global majority artists, this site-specific performance is a collection of oral histories, soundscape, theater and visual arts. Local residents will go on a canoe tour of the Creek and experience the water up close, while also witnessing (and being a part of) a community performance celebrating the waterfront.
Performances at Newtown Creek Nature Walk: June 24, 25 at 6pm. RSVP HERE
Visual Research of a Textile Piece by Artist Meadow Cloud for (Re)Imagining Greenpoint's Green Waters
The Unkept Hums From the Voices of Home: An Audio Journey by Meadow Cloud
This audio narrative was created by Meadow Soleil Cloud (He/Him) and Co-Produced/Music Director Destiny Ray Chavez (They/Them) to harvest a nonlinear narrative that expresses the ways environmental violence has an affect on marginalized communities in humanity and nature.
In an attempt to break from a traditional documentary style entrance of exchanging information, this piece is harvested by the voices of the community it is directly affecting. This body of work would not have been possible without the gift from the vocals of Destiny Ray Chavez (They/Them), sandile mhlaba (They/Them), Zai (He/Him), Terran Scott (She/Her), Sienna (She/They), and Amari Figueras (He/Him) Aderinsola (She/They).
MEET THE COLLABORATORS
DESTINY RAY CHAVEZ (THEY/THEM)
@RAYBL000MS
Based in Southern California/Tongva Land, Destiny Ray Chavez (they/them), is a latinx trans non-binary multi-media and performing artist. They began their undergraduate studies at San Francisco State University in a Bachelors of Music program with an emphasis in Classical Vocal Performance. Currently taking a break from university, they focus on studies and projects outside of their degree including music producing, visual/digital arts and performing arts. Ray intends to create inclusive bodies of art and media that surround environmental justice, break gender/societal norms, address disability justice, and uplift community members that are Black, Indigenous and peoples of color (BIPOC). In recent collaboration with Meadow Cloud’s work in [Re] Imagining Greenpoint’s Green Waters, they are honored in contributing as co-music director/producer. Ray hopes to continue to translate their sounds and frequencies of media to inspire and elevate other queer BIPOC community members.
GRAYSON IZEKIEL COLBERT (THEY/THEM)
@softxprince
* Assistant for Textile Piece *
Grayson Izekiel Colbert is a young Black, trans & nonbinary queer artist and tattooer, born and raised near Chicago in Evanston, IL , and currently lives and works in NYC. They are in their final year studying Fine Art and Printmaking at Parsons School of Design in Manhattan. Their work focuses on identity, advocacy, and representation. Their artistic practice has an emphasis on community-building and mutual aid, especially for Black trans folks. Their work is cross-disciplinary, and ranges from colorful digital art, to textile work, to tattoos.
ZAI (HE/HIM)
@Kxngpixie
ZAI (He/Him), also known as Kxngpixie/Pixieshawty, or Howlshustle on Tik Tok; is a twenty-two year old musician and model. Born and based in New York, raised in Germany and Switzerland, ZAI is a Black Jewish Trans Male artist. The singer/rapper has been working on his sophomore visual album since mid-2021. The album, “Think of Me When You Swallow”; is set to release August 24th, 2022 on Marsha P. Johnson’s birthday. The visual albums follows one continuous story of a Trans man embracing his identity and finding community after breaking up with a boyfriend who won’t accept him. Other than that, ZAI is equally passionate about fashion modeling and is currently looking for new agency representation. You can stream ZAI’s music on all streaming services under the name PixieShawty, and keep up to date with him on Instagram @kxngpixie.
TERRAN SCOTT (SHE/HER)
@vegeterran
Terran Scott is a raging multi-hyphenate and sexy tree working in film, theatre, and music. Two months ago, she quit her service industry job and has been having a blast production designing for music videos like "A Little Louder" by Maddie Lukomski, acting in Wonder Boy, a trans superhero musical by Jaime Jarrett, and devising as a performer/creator in SPEECH, a Lightning Rod Special show coming to the curated Philly Fringe this fall. She is in the process of starting a production collective, Fruit House, with her closest friends and collaborators and is so honored to also be the technical director of this very project. Peace and love. @vegeterran
ADERNISOLA (SHE/THEY)
@adeserinsola_mb
Tending the Edge Project Description: As a way to understand and to (re)imagine the complicated and polluted history of Newtown Creek, artist and Greenpoint resident, Ray Jordan Achan is working on a site-specific, documentary theater performance based on his own investigations, photographs, interviews and archival material. Ray methodology uses archival material as a way to (re)create New York City’s past, understand it’s mistakes - such as governmental and environmental neglect, to learn how to remedy these missteps and to (re imagine sustainable climate solutions for the future. To open the conversation, (Re)imagining Greenpoint’s Green Waters will be accompanied by a panel discussion on climate equity and how to prioritize low-income, Black and brown folxs who continue to get displaced when new public amenities such as waterfront parks are created.
In spring 2021, as the city considers who will become our next mayor and we come face to face with our own future, NYC Department of City Planning (DCP), Culture Push (CP), and Works on Water (WoW), have come together, with support from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs through the Mayor's Grant for Cultural Initiative. to consider how we will collectively tend to the edges of our vulnerable coastal archipelago.
Artists from across the five boroughs, who each have deep roots in New York City’s coastal communities, will spend the next two months with the water’s edge, offering points of engagement and weaving relationships across the shoreline, through districts, wetlands, rivers, and boroughs, all the way to city hall.
Tending the Edge coincides, intentionally, with the forthcoming primary election and the release of the next Comprehensive Waterfront Plan (CWP) which will define the city’s waterfront goals for the next ten years. Collectively, Tending the Edge emphasizes that the CWP is not just a document, but a reflection of our lived experiences and aspirations and aims to bring the CWP into the public discourse during this critical moment. Most importantly, we are asking you - as a leader in the city, to act with urgency, to uphold the CWP and to prioritize issues of climate adaptation and resiliency planning.
“This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and the Department of City Planning (DCP)."
(Re)Imagining Greenpoint's Green Waters Trailer (WORK-IN-PROGRESS)
This project is supported by the generous funds provided by the 2022 Creative Equations Fund: Justice, Equity, Sustainability + Performing Arts Grant from the Brooklyn Arts Council & Works on Water.
If you would like to get involved in this project either as an artist, producer or photographer/videographer, please email ray@exiledtongues.com
