God Is/Sustenance: A Multimedia Installation

God/Is Sustenance is a multimedia performance and sculptural installation informed by African cosmology, symbology, and ritual. While creating the first Tarot deck illustrated and written by a Black woman “Dust II Onyx”, visual artist Courtney Alexander deeply researched spiritual traditions from across the African Diaspora. After obtaining a bachelor's degree in Comparative Mythology at Santa Clara University, Regina/Pharaoh began reading tarot with “Dust II Onyx” in 2019. A student of Rosicrucian (Egyptian/Hermetic) metaphysics and philosophy since age 17, Pharaoh is also a certified Reiki practitioner. Courtney and Pharoh’s potent connection to the divine motivates their land stewardship and activism.  Through God Is/Sustenance we invite you to cultivate a relationship with the divine in self, and nature. 

God Is is a live interactive altar experience by Courtney Alexander. Courtney sits draped anonymously and decadently upon a throne or sculpture in a Black handmade costume inspired by African masquerade ceremony. Audience members are invited to come together for God Is/Sustenance and create an offering from the selection of ritual items and sit in meditation with Courtney, contemplating the nature of God as represented in front of them.  
 
While God Is incorporates land honoring in its performance, the sister performance Sustenance in collaboration with artist Pharaoh is a multistage land pilgrimage designed to encourage connection to the earth, unique to the land where it is created. Prompts invite audience members toward contemplation of the divine and the land on which they stand. It is important to us that we include all four elements and five senses, so we hope to engage in meditation, prayers, poetry, music, and movement.  

Courtney and Pharaoh are both Chicago-based artists creating this work through an arts residency in Bombay Beach, California. We are fundraising to fully realize this project in Bombay Beach, after which we will seek a venue and local collaborations to bring a version of God Is/Sustenance to Chicago.  Bombay Beach supports us with time, housing, exposure, and a robust community of creators and technicians, but the financial support from this renegade arts organization is limited. 1/3 of your support will go towards key production elements that will travel with the show to Chicago such as: projectors, the masquerade costume, speakers, and event capture. About 2/3 of the funding will be used towards the Chicago implementation of God Is. Your gift will allow us to secure a venue, acquire sculptural materials and supplies for a site-specific installation of Sustenance, and compensate local stewards for their knowledge and contributions to the work among many other things. 

To support God Is/Sustenance is to support humankind reconnecting to the earth and building a better society from that relationship. Help us reconnect you to our divinity. Ase.