Wesleigh Gates, Photo by Kevin Ramser

Wesleigh Gates, Grafters
Saturday May 31, 2025 | 11AM-1PM

With rafa esparza and Vanessa Hernández Cruz

Wesleigh Gates is a transfeminine artist and researcher building collective structures of
connection and care through performance. Her original performance work has shown in
Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Boston, and she has performed in
work by artists including Julie Tolentino, Caden Manson/Big Art Group, Emily Barasch,
Brendan Drake, and Dan Safer/Witness Relocation. Wesleigh has received residencies
from Los Angeles Performance Practice and Kelly Strayhorn Theater, a commission
from the New Hazlett Theater (Pittsburgh), and support from the Foundation for
Contemporary Arts and the Frank-Ratchye Fund for Art at the Frontier. She is currently
a PhD candidate in Culture and Performance at UCLA, where her research focuses on
trans embodiment and particularly on the role of physical movement practices in trans
subject formation. Wesleigh holds an MFA from Carnegie Mellon University and is the
director of TSLUR (Transfems in Solidarity Leading Unconventional Research), an
all-doll performance research studio based in LA. Find her occasional thoughts on trans
art, culture, and philosophy at wesleigh.substack.com.

The LAX Micro Fest is made possible in part by a grant from the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, and is supported, in part, by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Department of Arts and Culture. Los Angeles Performance Practice is also supported, in part, by The Mellon Foundation, The Perenchio Foundation, and the California Arts Council.