GOD, ARE YOU THERE?
IT’S NOT ME IT’S YOU.
2023
pt. 1
This is the first part to a two part performance series where Immanuel J. explores the connection between remixed-n-glitched gender performance within Ballroom culture and the gender performance prominent within the Baptist church. CAMP IS..-- renamed GOD, ARE YOU THERE? IT’S NOT ME IT’S YOU. is a multimedia video and performance installation that seeps through various spaces of entry for whatever institution it occupies. It explores the aesthetics and politics rooted in Black sexuality, gender expression, and queer drag culture in relation to Black American megachurches' self-fashioning and respectability. This iteration of the performance occupies the steps in front of Bard College’s Chapel and the back entrance of Bertlesmann campus center. One part of this installation is a video channel set up on Bard's chapel steps. This video depicts a compilation of vintage Black gay porn with various obscurities. The other part of this installation is a live art performance by Immanuel J. which re-enacts the play J. engaged in as a child.
Photos By Anastasia Dzutstsati & Tania El Khoury
GOD, ARE YOU THERE?
maybe it’s me.
2024
pt. 2
GOD, ARE YOU THERE? Maybe it’s me. Is the second and final part of the live arts installation and performance. In this iteration, Immanuel J. presents an interactive performance where they gather the audience in a circle and confess sins to each audience member asking them if they forgive them or not. If the audience decides to forgive Immanuel J., they are instructed to rub oil on J.’s face. If an audience member decides not to forgive J., they are instructed to rub oil on their own face to protect themselves from Immanuel J.’s sinful influence. As the text continues it presents an ethical dilemma for the viewers to determine if Immanuel J.’s accounts are truthful or sensational. Immanuel J. gives the viewers power and agency to act on their fantasies by giving them the power to forgive; it is up to them to decide if they accept this power. J. creates a sense of connectivity through a sensory experience. J. activates four of five senses through smell, touch, sound, and sight.
Photos By Lina Azalea Dahbour & ogga