Written by Colin Secore
On the 25th of May, I attended this year’s Distinguished Artist Award ceremony at Kingston’s city hall for Jaguar Mary X, a performance artist and activist. At the ceremony, we were treated to two short films of their work: A Beckoning, and The Emotional Body Project.
A Beckoning was a video performance that explored the relationship between humans and trees in the city's environment. The audio of ambient voices was unnerving to me at times, especially combined with looping visuals of disembodied arms twisting around trees. The touch and interaction between flesh and wood was intimate and potentially loving at times. The final shot depicts several trees in rows set to the Kingston city ambience.
The Emotional Body Project is an ongoing project that involves an interview where the subject is given an emotion. They are then asked to tell a story they have never told anyone before inspired by the emotion while whispering. It’s an extremely personal interview where the viewer can tell the subjects are revealing something sacred to them, and loaded with emotional significance.
I’ve thought about those works since then and looked over as many as I could on JMX’s website: kaliartproject.com. Thanks to MAD Executive Administrator Lisa Kelley, I was given a chance to interview Jaguar Mary X and learn more about their process and inspiration. On the first of July we met. Regardless of my nerves, I knew what I wanted to ask.
“Who are you? What is your background?” I asked.
Jaguar Mary X is an activist, a filmmaker, a performance artist, a movement artist, and a glossolalia vocalist. Glossolalia is a way of loosening the tongue and speaking gibberish to express thoughts and feelings that can’t be expressed through language. They first called themself an artist in 1988 when they moved to New York City and were primarily doing film. They are informed by nature and spiritual growth and are currently working with plants as ritual work.
“When did the phrase ‘freedom is unintelligible,’ as said in your film Whisper, start for you, and how has it changed you since?” I asked.
The idea of unintelligible freedom started for Jaguar Mary X when they went to Pratt Institute and were deepening their work. “Each person has their own definition of freedom,” they said. “It morphs, it changes.” Language is too regimented to fully represent people’s feelings, so unintelligibility represents the failure of language to encapsulate what goes on in the human mind. JMX believes freedom is an action verb and defines it as being able to define oneself at any given moment, to feel safe in a community, to express one’s creative goals without harm, and to be able to speak one’s needs without repercussion.
“What places in nature are you drawn to and why?” I asked.
Jaguar Mary X performed a movement meditation in Sedona, Arizona. Data in the rock formations date back millions of years, vibrations stemming from the magnetic energies of iron in the red rock. The desert is a place of incomprehensible time. Alternatively, the jungle in Bali is rich with plant and animal life. Stepping into the jungle and listening to the immense ecosystem, one would be able to instantly tell that it is a place of abundance. “The things that take your breath away are the things that enliven you as a human being,” JMX said.
“How do you reach a point where you can spin for five minutes straight?” I asked.
I had a festival in mind where Jaguar Mary X performed a piece in which they spun around with their arms outstretched for five straight minutes to collect negative energies and dispel them upwards in a spiral. “Everything spins, and to replicate that movement creates a centrifugal force, a momentum,” JMX said. When everything is a blur, one must absorb the blur and accept it. When you absorb the blur, you know that you’re spinning and that you’re in your own body. Apparently, after getting through the first minute of spinning, you can spin for however long you want.
“What advice would you give young artists trying to make a stand in the world?” I asked.
The most important things for young artists to remember is that time is a factor, and to take rest, Jaguar Mary X described. The more time we commit to our work the deeper we get into it, and we receive a lot of information when we rest. Artists should also maintain a kind of authenticity that allows them to be open and continue evolving. We can learn a lot from each other as artists and JMX returned to school mainly to be in a close community of artists.
”I’m not rich or famous,” JMX said, “I am exploring, experimenting. I am lucky enough to have been given gifts along the way, including this space, the Art Life Institute, which used to be the home of Linda Montano, who is a touted and famous performance artist. I’m able to explore working with plants as part of my art. Sometimes the things that make us really happy aren’t necessarily fame. Not that it’s a bad thing, but it’s not always the thing.” This quote has stood out to me as a meaningful representation of how we could live as artists. JMX also added that there’s been a history of denial of art not contributing to our culture and lives. We must think of our work as honest and valuable; undervaluing it isn’t going to help anyone.
“What is your favorite color, and why?” Was my final question. If I become a regular interviewer, I think that’d be a fun question to end off with each time.
Jaguar Mary X’s favorite color rotates between green and purple. Right now it’s green. They believe it is a heart-opening and healing color, while purple is royal, wise, and requires courage to wear.
I was very grateful to meet and speak with JMX. It was my first interview, and I was incredibly nervous. But no matter how much I stuttered or struggled to find the right words, JMX didn’t flinch and proceeded to give me information I’ll hold close to me as both an artist and as a human. Plus, I like to think we’re friends now.
