HAUSDOWN

HausDown is a moving installation and mutual aid series that occurred in 2024. Immanuel J. partnered with the Pride Center of the Capital Region with a grant provided by the Arts Center of the Capital Region providing over $2000 in gift cards to queer folks of color living in upstate New York. For their moving installation, Immanuel J. walked the width and length of Albany, NY twice over on two separate days. They carted a screen displaying a mix of archival ballroom dance scenes with dance submissions from queer people of color. Through this installation, J. asserts how Black queer movement can be used in unconventional spaces to make hypervisible an experience that exists between the fabric of other experiences. Namely; the poor Black queer experience within Albany. To be a queer mover on the streets of Albany is to move in a way that is convoluted, curious, and disruptive to the flow of pedestrian traffic. As the queer do on a daily, they rendered their gender-expansive, offensively-queer body hypervisible through the streets of Albany. Through performance, J. centers on Black queerness and highlights how it slips between already marginalized identities– race and sexuality paradigms.