On the closing night of her show titled “Shapeshifted,” Estela Sánchez embodied the personas of Shapeshifter and Coachilicue, simultaneously bringing us into a space where we had permission to mourn for, and celebrate the land we have settled on. The performance also made an argument for gender queerness as an appropriate and natural form of transformation. We watched as they soaked strips of fabric in beet juice, a natural occurrence of the color red, representing the deity Coachilicue. They then wrapped themselves in the fabric, enveloping their gender-queer identity with the support of Coachilicue.
The performance included a mix of emotional cries and laughter by the performer that couldn’t help but evoke a response from the audience. The juxtaposition of crying and laughing seemed to point to the complicated nature of our own personal relationships to the land we inhabit. Our connection to the land was deepened through the performance as Shapeshifter walked on and moved through the sand that was moments earlier part of an installation piece in the gallery.
Shapeshifter interacted with the pieces and the audience in a way that almost removed the performance from the gallery space. This was quite literally accomplished at the end of the show when Shapeshifter left the gallery space and used the entire building as a stage, the audience following close behind. The show ended as we were drawn into the courtyard and watched as shapeshifter disappeared and reappeared around corners of the building. With the final disappearance and the allure of one last primal howl, we were left unsure whether we were still a part of the performance. For a brief moment the performance merged with the lives we live outside of it, giving it context beyond the gallery space.