Christopher Velasco

About The Artwork

My Aunt Marge, 2016, Photograph

In February 2016, the demolition of the 6th Street Bridge began, and the city lost a part of itself. Most importantly, my family lost the last place where our aunt was alive. I thought, what if I help my aunt’s spirit to move on from the bridge through a public photo performance: I would become a modern-day ghost of my aunt, haunting the bridge, evoking her spirit and helping her to ascend to the other side.

I am Brown Queer Pride, 2022, Photograph

A Woman’s Face is an ongoing photographic performance, based on the 1941 Joan Crawford film about a troubled female with a disfiguring facial scar. She meets a plastic surgeon that offers her the possibility of becoming a “normal” person in a society that has shunned her. Like Joan Crawford’s character, I am seen as an outsider, yet my face is not disfigured. I made this work, I am Brown Queer Pride, to validate others like me and subvert the queer, horror, and beauty communities. The characters I transform conjure the monstrous yet beautiful qualities I believe them to have.