Overview

What does it mean to be in a place and out of place at the same time? Gabrielle Civil explores this question by making black feminist performance art in Mexico. She asks unsuspecting Mexicans if they have good hair, visits legendary black expatriate artist Elizabeth Catlett, celebrates Obama’s first election with mariachis, embarks on love affairs, dresses up as a Mexican doll, and christens herself with Negrita rum. Archiving her 2008-2009 Fulbright fellowship project, In and Out of Place combines diary entries, images, performance texts, critical commentary, and current reflections. Civil explores—and expands—the parameters of her own body, artistic process, heritage, and culture. She retraces—and activates—her trajectory as a black woman artist in the world. from ""¿ de donde eres ?""             where are you from?             and why are you wearing a sombrero?             are you trying to go native?             are you staking a claim?             are you playing a part or a joke?             who are you here, black girl?             who do you think you are?             what gifts are you bringing?             what rights do you have?             who are your people             and where are they now?             why is your accent so funny?             what are you trying to say?             when did you get here?             how long will you stay?             what lines are you drawing?             what are you rendering?             what do you recall?

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9781680032796

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In and Out of Place is like catching a rainbow between your hands: what does it mean to capture impossible thresholds of the self? of lived and ephemeral artistic practice? of a place and time in transition? Gabrielle Civil intertwines knowing and not knowing, logging her daily life in Mexico alongside the imagined chronicle of the forgotten (or unwritten, or unrevealed). This book is half of every conversation you wish you could know more of--now you can, just lean in. --Chloe Bass, artist and creator of Wayfinding Con su obra performatica Gabrielle Civil ha hecho una reflexion sobre si misma. Su obra es un espejo. Resultado de una profunda observacion se va trazando un autorrecorrido. Se sabe negra, se sabe fuerte, se sabe bella. Las autorreferencias son el menu que se ofrece sobre la mesa. With her performance work, Gabrielle Civil has done a self-analysis. Her work is a mirror. An inner journey mapped from deep observation. She knows herself as black, she knows herself as strong, she knows herself as beautiful. Self-references are the menu offerings on the table. --Pancho Lopez, artist and author of Centroamerica en accion (trans. Lucia Abolafia Cobo) What does it mean to be an African American woman, triply marked as female, Black, and foreign, undergoing decidedly Black, feminist, performance art in Mexico? Gabrielle Civil's work, this book, these questions and the conversation are all an intervention. --Selena La'Chelle Brown, Ph.D., Theatre Arts & Performance Studies and founder of Pramana Wellness

In & Out of Place, Gabrielle Civil's latest performance memoir, documents the artist's experience living and making performance art in Mexico in 2008--both the year Obama was voted into office and a time she refers to as the best year of my adult life. Employing English, Spanish and meta-text, with a sprinkling of French and Kreyol, Civil weaves together her travel journals and artist notebooks, performance notes and exercises, correspondence with artists and friends, meditations on race, anger and public space, accounts of interactions with iconic artists and lovers, with bilingual reviews, comics and photographs documenting her performances. Dedicated to expat artist Elizabeth Catlett and authors Audre Lorde and bell hooks, In & Out of Place continues the rich tradition of Black women artists as pioneering travelers. Challenging notions of where and how she as a Black woman is expected to travel, Civil charts a roadmap for how artmaking can provide alternate ways of travel. Of particular note are a series of ex votos--colorful, tin, votive paintings with Spanish inscriptions at the bottom--that Civil commissioned to document her key moments. They are a brilliant example of the project's collaboration, synthesis and performance. --Faith Adiele, author of The Nigerian Nordic Girl's Guide to Lady Problems, founder of VONA Travel, the nation's first writing workshop for BIPOC travelers In and Out of Place is like catching a rainbow between your hands: what does it mean to capture impossible thresholds of the self? of lived and ephemeral artistic practice? of a place and time in transition? Gabrielle Civil intertwines knowing and not knowing, logging her daily life in Mexico alongside the imagined chronicle of the forgotten (or unwritten, or unrevealed). This book is half of every conversation you wish you could know more of--now you can, just lean in. --Chloe Bass, artist and creator of Wayfinding Con su obra performatica Gabrielle Civil ha hecho una reflexion sobre si misma. Su obra es un espejo. Resultado de una profunda observacion se va trazando un autorrecorrido. Se sabe negra, se sabe fuerte, se sabe bella. Las autorreferencias son el menu que se ofrece sobre la mesa. With her performance work, Gabrielle Civil has done a self-analysis. Her work is a mirror. An inner journey mapped from deep observation. She knows herself as black, she knows herself as strong, she knows herself as beautiful. Self-references are the menu offerings on the table. --Pancho Lopez, artist and author of Centroamerica en accion (trans. Lucia Abolafia Cobo) What does it mean to be an African American woman, triply marked as female, Black, and foreign, undergoing decidedly Black, feminist, performance art in Mexico? Gabrielle Civil's work, this book, these questions and the conversation are all an intervention. --Selena La'Chelle Brown, Ph.D., Theatre Arts & Performance Studies and founder of Pramana Wellness

Author Information

GABRIELLE CIVIL is a black feminist performance artist, poet, and writer, originally from Detroit, MI. She has premiered over fifty performance art works around the world, including as a Fulbright Fellow in Mexico. Her performance memoirs include Swallow the Fish (2017), Experiments in Joy (2019), ( ghost gestures ) (2021), and the déjà vu (2022). Her writing has also appeared in New Daughters of Africa, Teaching Black, Kitchen Table Translation, and Experiments in Joy: a Workbook. The aim of her work is to open up space.

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