Today in 1904, 1904-2024

Performance/Para(non)fiction

Duration: 3 years, 147 days

Today in 1904 is a durational performance that overlaps the year 1904 and the present time as if they were occurring simultaneously in a repeating time loop. To cope with being in lockdown at the site of the Philippine Village during the pandemic, I was compelled to get to know the people who lived and died here and the experiences they had over the eight-month duration of the 1904 World’s Fair. Every day, I read the highly sensationalized newspaper accounts of events on the corresponding day in 1904 and renarrated or reenacted them in my Instagram stories as if they were occurring in the present day from my own perspective. All references are nonfictional.

In the past and present I remembered the day’s events and highlighted fleeting moments of joy, grief, love, agency, and self-determination as they intersected with my own experiences and I live and move though the same spaces in St. Louis that they did over a century ago. By 2023, I realized it was no longer a performance and that 1904 had merged with the present day when my trauma was appropriated by Washington Post reporters Claire Healy and Nicole Dungca looking to sell a story. Over two years of my research and personal experiences were turned into a comic book and sold without my knowledge when I thought I was being interviewed for an article about my work. It was then picked up by GMA Network in the Philippines, who continued to distort information about myself and Indigenous people at the fair. During this time I was also e-stalked by a writer in London who produced a similar YA novel and tried to use me to promote her book. Before this all happened I had just wanted to tell a story in my own voice for my audience of friends, but instead the world came to exploit me.

I found what I was looking for, closed the loop, and returned to the present on September 15, 2024 after being immersed in the project for over three years. I never want to return to 1904 again.

This series was originally formatted for Instagram and intended to be viewed on the day it happened. I used the temporary, disappearing format because of the sensitive nature of the content. Videos and images below include selected moments from the ongoing narrative. Some stories were only available on the day they were posted. Selected stories are archived in my highlights on Instagram.