stages of tectonic blackness

stages of tectonic blackness is a many-staged performance project and video piece conceived by GROUND SERIES member Miles Tokunow with collaborators Nikesha Breeze, Lazarus Nance Letcher and MK; it tarries with the paralleled processes of dehumanization and extraction, emergence and rebellion, as sustained by Black bodies and rock bodies.

In a cultural moment racked with urgency, Stages of Tectonic Blackness invites those engaging in the work to move slowly in order to feel more deeply into this time. As a durational practice of Black queer resistance, this work prioritizes Black experience, Black time, Black bodies and our racialized relationship to the earth.  

The first performance of this many staged project premiered as an 8-hour durational performance in September 2020. It was created with/for geologic formations on the Piedra Lisa Trail in Albuquerque, New Mexico on Tiwa territory and met the CDC guidelines for COVID-19. 

This project was generously supported by individual donors of our Fall 2020 fundraising campaign. Special thanks to the volunteers of Standing Up for Racial Justice Albuquerque for their support with event safety.