Altar: Day of the Dead Celebration

In honour of the Day of the Dead, this evening is a summoning of queer love, ancestral memory, and transgenerational healing. Featuring artists from Mexico, Ximena Velázquez presents a haunting ritual of tortilla-making, followed by a performance from drag mutant Gaia Lacandona, and a sonic meditation by El Ángel Exterminador. The night blurs the line between worlds, celebrating both the living and the dead. Audience members are invited to bring messages or names of ancestors to the altar. May queer ritual, sound, and spirit envelop you. Doors at 6:30pm Performances at 7pm RSVPs are appreciated Admission is by donation Tortillera* by Ximena Velázquez In the flickering shadows of an altar, Ximena performs a haunting ritual of making tortillas, a practice woven with the spectral whispers of the multigenerational Mexican women in her family. Inspired by her great-grandmother’s recipes, each tortilla is a conjuring shaped by hands long gone, strengthening the unbreakable tether to her ancestral past. *In Mexico, “tortillera” (tortilla-maker) is a derogatory term for lesbian. This performance is a reclamation of the word and a reconnection to matrilineal wisdom, healing not just the body but the spirit. Portales by El Ángel Exterminador In darkness sounds spread like a thick fog, enveloping you within it. The curtain between worlds becomes thin and flickers in and out, let it transport you. Mi Orgullo Perdido by Gaia Lacandona To migrate is to uproot ourselves and transplant our beings to new territories. This drag mutation by Gaia Lacandona is a call back to their lands, a longing for the place they call home. A performance that resurrects their lost pride and honours their dead, reminding us that we don’t have to cut our roots to grow new wings.