Bullet Melting Ceremony x Stephanie Mercedes Honoring Dzhoy "Joy" Zuckerman

Part of the Queer Altars Project, join us for a unique event where artist Stephanie Mercedes will transform decommissioned guns and bullet casings into 3D reliefs for a small Queer Altar honoring biker Dzhoy “Joy” Zuckerman. This altar, crafted from melted weapons, symbolizes solidarity instead of focusing solely on lives lost to gun violence.

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"Queer Altars" is supported by a Community Grant from the Mayor's Office of LGBTQ Affairs.

About Stephanie Mercedes

Mercedes is an uncategorized Queer Latinx artist who choreographs large scale performances and installations based in sound. Mercedes transforms weapons into musical installations and works of art. She also excavates missing violent histories. Mercedes has exhibited and performed at the Bronx Museum, the Queens Museum, the Smithsonian, the Kennedy Center and the National Gallery of Art. She has been funded by George Soro's Open Society Foundation, Light Works, NALAC, The Foundation for Contemporary Art, Washington Project for the Arts, The DC Commission for the Arts and Humanities, the GLB Memorial Foundation, the Warhol Foundation, and the Clarvit Fellowship. Mercedes has been an artist-in-residence at: VisArts, Halcyon Art Labs, the Bronx Museum, Montgomery College, Christopher Newport University, SOMA, Lugar a Dudas, Largo das Artes and La Ira de Dios. Mercedes is producing an Opera with CulturalDC in 2022-23. Learn more about Mercedes’ work at www.stephaniemercedes.com

About The Nicholson Project

The Nicholson Project is a paid artist residency program and neighborhood garden in Ward 7’s Fairlawn neighborhood. Our mission is to support, provide opportunities, engage, and amplify artists and creatives from our community and the local artist community—particularly artists of color and those from Ward 7 and 8—while engaging our neighbors through community-based programming. Our vision is to serve as a cultural hub and community anchor celebrating Ward 7’s authentic identity, while infusing new vibrancy into Southeast DC. We hope to inspire others to use similar non-traditional arts and community-centered projects as a pathway toward stronger, more vibrant communities. Learn more at www.thenicholsonproject.org.

Host or Publisher The Nicholson Project