Intricate Rituals asks viewer/listeners to step into a fantasy. It is an invitation to witness the adoption of an identity that is both imagined and real. Passing for something that you're not is where truth and illusion coexist. These works unpack my process of learning to wrestle in order to better understand myself in relation to inaccessible rituals of cis-masculinity and unpack the cis-assumed identity projected onto my medically transitioning trans body. Subconsciously, I wanted to learn how to not be so afraid of men in order to not be afraid of myself.

The work was developed primarily for my MFA Thesis. It began with learning from friends with highschool wrestling experience, consulting with wrestling coaches, and entering cis-dominated Chicago wrestling clubs. I then put out a casting call to find a doggleganger performer,  taught them to wrestle, and together, we developed a trans masculine movement experience that passes for wrestling, while also being something entirely different.