Emily Johnson

A new performance housed within a light/sound installation of hand-made, functional fish-skin lanterns, Niicugni equates land we live on with cells that comprise our bodies and calls upon audiences to remember that land is alive with ancestry, memory, and possibility, and that our bodies also hold these things. Taking into account the forces that build and simultaneously break down our bodies and earth, Niicugni brings life and death—the ultimate contradiction—into the conversation. Created/performed by Emily Johnson with Aretha Aoki. Composed by James Everest with violinist/electronic musician Bethany Lacktorin and lighting designer Heidi Eckwall.