Write or Die is a performance and installation about the healing power of art and writing. I use text in journals, on hanging pages, and on an oversized projection within the space to invite viewers into my process. I use writing to form an intimate connection to the reader-viewer, in which I share childhood traumas, the lingering effects of sexual abuse, racism, and cultural isolation. For me, writing has been a crucial tool to discover and explore my own identity.

Write or Die consists of All the Things, a live writing performance, In Bed Together an interactive bed installation, Save Me, notebook-sculptures, and I Was Here, an immersive installation of hanging pages. I write in real-time about growing up in a white family as an adopted black child, sexual abuse, addiction, promiscuity, self-harm, and teenage treatment centers as part of All the Things, which is projected on the wall and on my body. I invite viewers to engage with me in the process of self-reflection in In Bed Together, a bed with custom Write or Die bedsheets and a notebook open to anyone’s thoughts, stories, or ideas. Save Me is a series of five sculptures that each take the form of handwritten notebooks with either short narratives or repetitive phrases like “I’m sorry” and “I’ve had sex with 52 boys.” Inside each notebook, there is a small embedded sculptural element related to self-harm and vulnerability. Throughout Write or Die, I Was Here guides the viewer with eye-level hanging pages from the my archive of personal documents like police transcriptions and an arrest warrant, unpublished writings, and love letters.

Write or Die first exhibited at You Belong Here in San Diego, CA and virtually on Zoom on September 4, 5, and 6, 2020.