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LakaPati

Micah Rosegrant (b. 1999), photographed by Meghan Cronin (b. 1999)

Lakapati Triptych, 2020

Digital Collage and Poem

text (as appears in second collage):

image description of first collage:

I BREATHE ON THE STREET AND TRAFFIC HALTS  †  THE MOUTHS GAPE  †  INTO THEIR EYES  †  WIDENING AN EYELASHED HORROR UNTIL  †  A SORT OF GRIN  † AS IF THE BUS STOP AFTER DISGUST  †  ISN’T LUST  †  HOW MY EYES SMILE TOO?  †  HOW I HUNGER SOMETIMES TOO  †  MAYBE THE BEST WAY TO SAVOR  †  A MEAL  †  IS TO CAPTURE WHAT ONE WANTS BETWEEN TEETH  †  THEN MOUNT IT  †  ON A WALL  †  LIKE TAXIDERMY OF FINE ANIMALS  †  HUNTED FOR MORE THAN BEAUTY  †  FOR CONQUERING’S SAKE  †  I’LL SIT HERE  † GATHERING DUST AND YOUR SALIVA  †  UNTIL YOUR CAVITIES  †  DROOL INTO        FLOODS  †  RUSHING TO ARK AND CRUCIFIX ME  †  AGAINST A STRANGER BEDFRAME  †  I’LL SAY I LET THE OIL INTO MY  LUNGS  †  AS IF YOUR HUNTING  † OF ME  †  WERE ALWAYS MY CHOICE.     

Micah wears yellow sun brwngrlz earrings with a white/off-white outfit: barong tagalog, faux fur, pants, and chunky sneakers. Their skin is light and warm; their hair colored an autumnal hue. They pose in the middle of an empty street in Allston, MA. The background is in greyscale—only Micah appears in color. A ghostly Santo Niño haunts their entire figure.

image description of second collage:

The previous image intensely darkened so only the black silhouette of the Santo Niño is vaguely present, its center partially illuminated by the shape of Micah’s body. Pale pink neon text and crucifixes surround the figure, some letters and words more dim than others.

image description of third collage:

A duplication of the first collage, but now the Santo Niño appears in color, fully possessing Micah’s form. Micah is enveloped by the statue’s red and gold cape: their head blending into the crowned doll head, their body disappearing into the background.

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GODDEXX

Micah Rosegrant (b. 1999), photographed by Sean Perreira (b. 1997)

Goddexx Triptych, 2020

Digital Collage and Prayer

image description of “Creation Goddexx”:

Micah wears clear brwngrlz hoops with a pale pink crop-top sweater. The sleeves are baggy, the center of the garment cinches into a ‘v’ with thick strings tied into a knot. Their hair is colored strawberry blonde, their expression distant and longing, their head tilted lightly to the left. Their hands are in prayer above their head. Micah’s figure—only visible to their waist—rests on a rose gold watercolor sunset full of fluffy clouds. Micah’s belly dissolves into the sky. Pink moons form halos around Micah’s hands and head. The top corners of the image are bordered with soft white clouds, and the bottom corners are bordered with translucent neon rays stretching towards Micah’s body. A prayer is inscribed around the borders of Micah’s top, and another prayer is inscribed around their collar.

border prayer:

TRANS  PEOPLE  DESERVE,  THRIVE  IN,  AND  BIRTH  THE  FUTURE.  WE  TRANS(CEND)  YOUR  STRAIGHT-ASS  LINEAR-ASS  BORING-ASS  NOTIONS OF  TIME  X  SPACE.  WE  SACRED  CELESTIAL  CYBORG  DINOSAUR MOTHERFUCKERS.  WE  HOLY.  WE  HEARTH.  WE  TREASURE.  WE  DIVINE  FEMME.  WE  DIVINE  MASC.  WE  ALL  &  NONE  OF  THE  ABOVE  AT  ONCE.  HOW?  WE  ALWAYS…

collar prayer:

REPEAT: I AM HOLY, I AM WHOLE, I AM WORTHY, I AM WONDER

image description of “Cataclysm Goddexx”:

A reddened inversion of the previous scene. Lava swirls and volcanic clouds replace the sky. The pink moons have swollen red. Micah’s flesh and pupils are red, their eyes black. A prayer is again inscribed around the borders of Micah’s top—now a purple hue—and another prayer surrounds their collar.

border prayer:

WHEN  THE  SPANISH  CAME,  THEY  SAW  US  AND  SCREAMED  “SIN”.  VOLLEYED  WICKED  WORDS  AT  OUR  BLESSED  SHAPES  SO  YES,  I  DEMON  IN  THIS  CATHOLIC  PERCEPTION.  I  NIGHTMARE,  I  APOCALYPSE-BRINGER,  AND  FRANKLY,  I  AM  READY  TO  VOLCANO  A  NEW  WORLD  SHOULD  THIS  ONE  CONTINUE  BREATHING  OFF  OUR  EXTINCTION.  GET READY,  GET  READY,  GET  READY. . . . THEY’RE  GONNA— !!!

collar prayer:

REPEAT: I AM HOLY, I AM WHOLE, I AM WORTHY, I AM WONDER

image description of “Prayer Circle”:

A duplication of the first collage, with the corners’ neon rays and white clouds now disappeared. The moons are gone too, replaced with a single gray halo around Micah’s head. Their eyes are brighter. Surrounding Micah’s figure are small golden statuettes of Micah in the same pose—33 in total. There is no border prayer, the collar prayer remains.

collar prayer:

REPEAT: I AM HOLY, I AM WHOLE, I AM WORTHY, I AM WONDER

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ANDROID

Micah Rosegrant (b. 1999), photographed by Sean Perreira (b. 1997)

Android Triptych, 2020

Digital Collage and Citations

image description of “Android 1”:

A photo of Micah from the nipples up, taken from below them. Their eyes are hidden by red, reflective sunglasses, and they wear a black mesh shirt. Behind them are bright sunlight and large green leaves. The photo has been rotated so Micah’s body begins from the left edge with their neck and head reaching out to the right. Four blocks of times new roman text appear in the pools of high-exposure background light.

first text block:

“one of the pitfalls in discussing constructions of gender cross-culturally is that we are, as Peter Jackson laments, limited by distinctions offered by ‘the English terms man/woman (denoting sex and/or gender), male/female (denoting only biological sex) and masculine/feminine (denoting only gender).’

second text block:

“Even though in the Philippine ethnic groups under discussion these clear-cut distinctions between sex and gender are not always perceived or apparent, 

third text block:

“because English is the language-tool of this paper, I use the words, male/female, man/woman and masculine/feminine precisely as defined above so as not to confuse the issues under discussion.” 

fourth text block:

Brewer, Carolyn. Baylans, Asogs, Transvestism, and Sodomy: Gender, Sexuality and the 

Sacred in Early Colonial Philippines. May 1999.

image description of “Android 2”:

On an LA street sloping upward with parked cars, buildings, and trees, Micah squats, eyes closed, lips pursed, arms and middle fingers up. They’re wearing clear brwngrlz hoops, a black mesh shirt, black cropped pants, white chunky sneakers, and their hair is dyed blonde. Hands reach into the image from its left and right edges, the pale hands place cardboard inscribed with text onto the scene. On each rectangle of cardboard, the spanish text scrawls in cursive, while english appears in times new roman.

first cardboard text:

“Ellos hordinariamente en traje mugeril su modo melindre y menios estran cifeminado que/quien no los conoce jusgara ser mugeres. Casi todos son ynpotentes para el acto de la generacion y asi se casan con toro ba-/ron y duermen juntos como marido y muger y tienen sus actos carnales.”

[Ordinarily they dress as women, act like prudes and are so effeminate that the one who does not know them would believe they are women. Almost all are impotent for the reproductive act, and thus they marry other males and sleep with them as man and wife and have carnal knowledge.]

second cardboard text:

fragmento de El Códice Boxer

[excerpt from The Boxer Codex]

image description of “Android 3”:

Micah, in the same outfit as before, poses with the red reflective sunglasses. They are looking upward, and their right hand combs through hair on the right side of their head. Trees and sunlight form the blurred background of white, brown, and green specks. Covering their nipples is a table from J. Neil C. Garcia’s book, which is cited in white text immediately below.

table:

MODEL 2: COMPARATIVE GENDER-CROSSING
	Precolonial gender-crossing	Colonial inversion
Gender
1. Occupation	1. prestigious	1. minoritized
2. Accoutrement	2. feminine	2. feminine
3. Anatomy	3. Mixed: “babaeng na-ay uten”/ “pusong-babae”	3. inverted/disowned body
Sexuality (sexual object choice)	1. unmarked	1. homosexual

citation:

Garcia, J. Neil C. Philippine Gay Culture: Binabae to Bakla, Silahis to MSM. Hong Kong 

University Press, 2009.