08/01/2026
The second activation of CHOPPED, my collaboration with Arielle Twist as part of Jeffrey Gibson’s POWERFULL BECAUSE WE’RE DIFFERENT exhibition, begins today MASS MoCA and has been extended for a further week so you can check it out Aug 1-9!
Video editor: Sancia Miala Shiba Nash
More details below…
Commissioned by MASS MoCA in conjunction with Gibson’s exhibition and produced by Patrick ‘Reachout’ Coll, CHOPPED is a sound work informed by notions of erasure, disembodiment, hauntings, and the power of absence and ancestral presence. Twist conceived the sound installation in the wake of increasing discrimination and violence suffered by trans and gender nonconforming people, particularly in America. CHOPPED is both a manifesto and a prayer, authored and performed by Twist and a small number of trans collaborators. In the absence of her physical presence, Twist offers viewers the power of her voice, her spirit, and a braided lock of her hair.
About the Artist:
Arielle Twist’s (George Gordon First Nation and Sipekne’katik First Nation, Cree) interdisciplinary practice blends poetics and visual modes of creation to explore the realities and legacy of Indigenous and Trans* life and grief. Exploring and experimenting through mediums such as textiles, painting, performance, literature, and language, Twist is reconnecting with the legacy of Indigenous Trans matriarchy and womanhood. Recent exhibitions include Indigenous Joys, Neutral Ground, Saskatchewan, and Time As A Relative, Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art, Kelowna, British Columbia. Twist has received awards from the Writers’ Trust of Canada, Indigenous Voices Awards, and Arts Nova Scotia for her debut poetry collection Disintegrate/Dissociate (2019, Arsenal Pulp Press).
