"The Black Girl who Stole Christmas" is a more recent title to a series of performance art projects that I have been altering since high school. I once performed in front of a crowd for my senior year of high school in a Santa suit. The performance was held at the CAM museum. The piece included my handing gifts out to the public only to then frighten them with a toy baseball bat and run around crazily. No one was truly frightened about the bat. I found that my race was a frightening event. No one could get my race out of their head. The piece embodied what it feels like to have something handed to you only to have it taken away. It was about emotional and mental abuse. It sprung from my mother's horrible marriage. No matter what though, the audience continued to ask if the piece was about being black. Would the audience have asked a white artist if the piece is about being white?
That first Santa suit performance was titled "How the Grinch Stole Christmas". Maybe it should have been titled "How the Stepdad Stole Christmas." My second performance working with this santa suit that my grandparents so randomly have was in Eric Thayer's course. Throughout my junior year of college here at the university, I began to see that non-blacks do not see me as Layla...they see me as a black girl first and always. With seeing me as a black girl first included ideas of who black girls are supposed to be. The piece in Eric Thayer's course began as a previous performance about the term "nigga". I went into who is supposed to use that word and when. Anyhow, my santa suit performance was titled as "The Black Flood". I trapped myself in half of the gallery space on the third floor with a gallery wall. I toyed with the concept of being a gorilla in a zoo. That is how it can often feel to be black in a world of people who can't seem to get over your being black. People treat black like it's a completely separate species. I also included the santa suit because I wanted to combine the touchy subject of race with this character whose had a commercial race war for all of his life (at least in the consumer industry). I twerked and practiced floorwork in a stuffed santa suit for an audience to pass by and watch. Most people were disturbed and looked as if they did not believe it was authentic enough. I began to make direct contact with audience members and gave them no choice other than to respond. It caused them to have to individually reject me and a lot of people were not able to do that.
I now want to perform again with all of my previous santa suit work included. I submitted this idea to the Art League of Houston for the main gallery. The setting will include a spread out of faux snow with a large Christmas tree. Presents will be wrapped underneath the tree and inside will contain items from a black beauty supply with black models. Typical American Christmas music will be played from a stereo which I will carry on my shoulder. My attire will include a santa suit, dancer stilettos, large hoop earrings, and stuffing. I want to include copies of 5x7" zines for the audience to take away. I also want to project a slideshow that precedes me. I am not sure on the interior of the gallery but I would not mind the projection being to my side. I have included photos of entries from my zine. I want to continue doing "black" activities (twerking, rapping, and eating hot cheetos and licking my fingers) in a santa suit to see who becomes distant and uncomfortable. Most people treat me as if the issue of being black in America is a form of whining. The performance will embody the emotion of not giving a care about how people feel about me.
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