Full Description
A two part book reimagining dark matter and the dark
Transtraterrestrial is an experimental book that documents Sage Ni'Ja Whitson's groundbreaking performance pieces, blending African Diasporic practices with innovative methodologies to explore themes of gender, sexuality, race, and spirit. Divided into two parts—The Unarrival Experiments and Counterproposals—the work delves into the mysteries of dark matter, dark energy, and Blackness through a Black, Queer, and Transembodied lens.
In the performances of The Unarrival Experiments, the audience is led on a cosmic journey guided by the space conductor, Trans Trappist the Extraterrestrial. This section of the book traverses the dark as both an ancestor and embodied transgender technology, asking profound questions: How do you perceive what cannot be seen? What if Blackness refuses to arrive, existing in the realm of the unarrival? Counterproposals delves into Yorùbá Cosmology, astrophysics, and the concept of the "blackest black," to explore a Black Futurity where queerness and transness are celebrated and centered. The book includes a fusion of letters, poems, photographs, and speculative writings. Color images throughout the book invite readers into the immersive worlds of performance and installation, offering a rich, layered experience of Whitson's unique artistic vision.
Contents
The Unarrival Experiments
A Ritual for the Flying/Introduction
Introducing the Constellation
Book/Holy
night gasps
Dark Matter Cypher/Caul
Willie's Formulary
Willie's Formulary - Penultimate
Transtraterrestrial/Egbe
sound presences
Illumination Catalogue/Lift
someone safe enough to die with
Willie's Formulary
Space Travel/Wild
Counterproposals
borrowings
Black Bath
Super Fluid / Super Black:
Translations and Teachings in Transembodied Metaphysics
Willie's Formulary
A Black Technologic
hurricane
Every Point a Portal
"You are not in prison" and
"You are not real": Transmutation,
Time, and the yearning for a Black Queer radical in Lovecraft Country
Darkness in the Past
Afro Divinities & Cosmic Wombs
Of the Cosmic Womb
Dears
