Wesleigh Gates, Photo by Kevin Ramser
Wesleigh Gates, The Grafters
Saturday May 31, 2025 | 11AM-1PM
Sharing the stage with Noura Alhariri, Elizabeth Metzger, and Vanessa Hernández Cruz
ABOUT THE GRAFTERS
B Gosse – collaborator
Farrah Hamzeh – collaborator
Tuesday Thomas – collaborator
In this iteration of her ongoing project The Grafters, Gates and collaborators B Gosse, Farrah Hamzeh, and Tuesday Thomas explore transfeminine bodies as both subjects and objects of knowledge. Stitching together an array of source material, The Grafters plays with authority and autonomy, with composite selves, corporeal becomings, and collective solidarity.
ABOUT WESLEIGH
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.
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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.