Gigi Otalvaro Hermillosa

Video, performance and writings on subversive hybridity, sex-positivity,
cosmic consciousness and world transformation by San Francisco based
interdisciplinary artist, Gigi Otalvaro-Hormillosa, AKA Devil Bunny in
Bondage
http://www.devilbunny.org

Gigi Otálvaro-Hormillosa, also known as the Devil Bunny in Bondage, is a San
Francisco based interdisciplinary performance artist, video artist, cultural
activist, curator and percussionist of Filipino and Colombian descent.
Devil Bunny?s concept of ?(a)eromestizaje? challenges stereotypical
representations of identity, community and sexuality by exploring them
through the aerodynamic filter of a new "mestizaje" (the term that describes
the Spanish/indigenous race mixture of Latin America and the Philippines) in
which there is a constant, yet shifting interplay between racial and sexual
identities. She is originally from Miami, Florida and received her B.A. from
Brown University where she created an independent concentration entitled
"Hybridity and Performance."  She has worked on various artistic
collaborations under the mentorship and direction of performing artists such
as Pearl Ubungen, Guillermo Gomez-Peña, Elia Arce and Afia Walking Tree. Her
work in performance, video and writing has been presented nationally and
internationally. Her writing has been published by Social Justice Journal,
shellac, artistmanifesto.com, Antithesis Journal: Sex 2000 and an anthology
entitled Postcolonial and Queer Theories: Intersections and Essays. Awards
include grants from the Franklin Furnace Fund for Performance Art
(2000-2001), the San Francisco Art Commission Cultural Equity Grants Program
and the Potrero Nuevo Fund Prize. Her video of ?Inverted Minstrel? is
currently online in the Popcorn Movies section of Planet Out?s website.
About "Cosmic Blood," a video and sound based performance work in progress
by Devil Bunny:
This hybridized video performance piece explores the concept of ?mestizaje?
from a perspective informed by history, contemporary culture and racial
formation and creative, spiritual speculation about the future.
Otalvaro-Hormillosa weaves video, sound and performance to illustrate the
contradictory aspects of ?mestizaje? in which the genocide and rape of one
race led to the creation of a new race. By redefining mestizaje to
incorporate mixed race and queer identities which take on countless forms as
in the case of multicultural San Francisco, Otalvaro-Hormillosa paints a
picture of the revolutionary potential for such subversive, yet fluid
identities to dismantle the binaries created by colonial constructs relating
to race and gender. Theories of contact between ancient civilizations and
extraterrestrials influence Otalvaro?s artistic vision of a cosmic
?mestizaje? in which the impending transformation of the world as we know it
may lead to possibilities for the creation of a new existence and way of
being.
Sound design by Melissa Dougherty; other collaborators include Bill Sievert,
Lorraine Bautista, Chris Hill, Heather Cox, Carmen Reginato and Stuart Port.