Stoking the Flame

The artist Sebastian Hernandez’s mix on living life otherwise.

Photograph by Nevin Hedrickson at YOUlosangeles party

“Vida Triste” (Sad Life) is a dramatic TRANSmission of sound that attempts to queer time and transmit a kind of affective performative brown utterance. This gathering and intermeshing of sonic objects collide with the present state of my body; dissecting personal memories and ideas of parenthood, queer ecosystems, trauma and healing.

Sebastian Hernandez is an LA native and multi-disciplinary trans femme artist who received a B.A. in both Art Practice and Dance and Performance Studies from the University of California Berkeley in 2016. They make art that range from sculptures to performance art to photography. Hernandez employs feminists theoretical analysis, queer theory, browness, gender and notions of collectivity as modes of thinking and generating works that shift and complicate Mexican and Chicano narratives in the contemporaneous social imagination. Their art making is embedded with Sebastian’s Aztec/Mexica heritage and the history of the brown body in relation to the U.S.-Mexico borderland. Sebastian’s movement practice is informed by their long standing practice of danza Azteca, Vogue and a wide range of modern dance techniques such as Laban, GAGA and afro modern dance. They are influenced by the Los Angeles queer nightlife and their personal narrative as they mitigate their indigenous trans body in the U.S. In the past 3 years, Sebastian has expanded and built from solo works to more collaborative works with visual artists and dancers in Los Angeles. These collaborative works have created a platform for various working artists in the city as well as built up a dynamic and rigorous work process for Sebastian that explore ideas of queer kinship. The work challenges traditional notions of space as they simultaneously confront their work’s interdisciplinary nature within art and dance contexts. Sebastian has presented works at REDCAT, Human Resources, LACE, Commonwealth& Council, The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, ICA LA, MUSTACHE Mondays, Perfromance Space New York, Club Scum, NAVEL LA, ONE ARCHIVES, BOFFO etc.