Drag is not only entertainment, it is artistic protest that demands Queer people be seen and acknowledged.

Two Spirit and Third Gender performers Luca Fitzgerald and their partner Anakoni Baker know and live this reality, and are taking the stage and the art community with them as they share these experiences in a sweeping story that demands to be heard and seen. In their installation and through performance in Monmouth at Western Oregon University’s Cannon Gallery of Art in Campbell Hall, they are telling a story of climate change and how it has affected Native and Two Gender peoples.

Two Spirit: Dual Natures Indigenous Drag Perspectives on Climate Change opened in the Cannon Gallery on April 4 and will be on exhibit through May 2. Performances will be held on Fridays, and will begin at 4 p.m.

The installation is a story that is told through costume and performance. The story is divided into three acts. Act one takes place during pre-colonial times when there was harmony because Native practices honored the world. The second act focuses on colonial occupation and exploitation. The final act deals with climate change. 

 A visit to the gallery on a weekday will give viewers an opportunity to take their time and experience the story in a static setting. The costumes are displayed on mannequins set en scène and include narrative statements and visual aids. They will also be used during performances.

Creative Producer and Curator Jessica Rehfield, who identifies as bi-gender flux and uses they/them pronouns, understands much of what Baker and Fitzgerald face daily. Together they have created a unique experience that they hope will open hearts and change minds. 

“The installation is a collection of designed and created costumes centered as set pieces, which tell this story in three parts,” they said. “The costumes were developed alongside a narrative that the artists and I developed together. They each have a specific heritage, so each of the costumes reflect part of their heritage, but there’s a story that goes through the costumes as well.”

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It is two cultures telling one story. To facilitate the two narratives, the gallery has been divided in half, with each performer’s story told in relation to their heritage and the element they identify with most. Fitzgerald tells the story of Earth, drawing from their Native and Celtic cultural heritage. Baker, whose element is Water, tells theirs using stories and imagery from Polynesian culture.

Fitzgerald and Baker, who perform as Mandragora Screech MacPherson and Ali’ison Underlynd MacPherson respectively, will be performing elemental parts that they identify with and that reflect their individual Native heritage.

“Each of these are the costumes, which are handmade pieces that will be activated by performances,” Rehfield said.

For the first performance Baker will perform Birthed from Moana (Pololia, jellyfish) while Fitzgerald will perform Growth from the Forest.

At the second performance Baker will perform Entangled and Ensnared by Haumia (Pollution) and Fitzgerald will perform Indigenous Fae/Deer Woman.

“This performance addresses topics of colonization-based violence, displacement, sexual abuse and violence against Indigenous peoples and Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and People,” Rehfield said.

At the final event, Baker will perform Tutu Pele’s FINAL RESOLUTION and Fitzgerald will perform Perun and Stribog’s FINAL JUDGEMENT.

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“The artists will perform a combination of solo and duet while wearing these paired costumes,” Rehfield said.

Baker has a hopeful demeanor and high expectations, but those are tempered by reality.

“This opportunity gives us the chance to spread Aloha and share history with those that do not know our history. All history is not sugar-coated. I wish my teachers in high school were able to teach more than just a few pages in our history books. Which currently in our country is being banned,” Baker said. 

“I wanted to be a part of this project to show that drag performers are not just one-sided entertainers. We take chances on any platform we are given. I hope to make people more aware of what is going on in our world today, not only physically but spiritually and mentally.

“Since I accepted myself as being Mahu it has helped me change as a drag performer. I have always wanted to mix my culture with my drag, because I felt my culture was too beautiful not to share. Being Mahu is when I feel completely myself,” they said.

 Māhū are individuals in Native Hawaiian and Tahitian cultures who embody both male and female spirit. The term Third Gender is often used in English. They have traditionally been teachers of both oral history, chant, cultural traditions, spirituality and hula, and held social roles within the culture.

Being a part of this installation is a dream come true for Fitzgerald, who also wants to own a gallery in the future.

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“I want to bring my culture into my drag. That is like my main thing. I’m trying to bring in the Two Spirit of both masculine and feminine balance of both within drag,” they said.

Though they have no expectation that the exhibit will change people’s minds about climate change or drag, there is the hope that it will be a starting point.

“I mean, if not change, at least maybe open some eyes, bring more eyes to what’s going on, or at least bring more awareness,” Fitzgerald said. “Because I don’t know if change will occur. I’m the type of person who will make noise even if I don’t think anyone’s listening, and if I can’t make someone listen then so be it.”

Life is experienced in cultural context, which is translated into personal experience. Two Spirit and Mahu face the erasure and potential inevitability of climate change and the loss of the Earth which they are spiritually and culturally connected to. This has informed their drag performances.

But there are two stories being told here. There is the more obvious one of wanton, wasteful and continuous destruction of our environment. There is also the subversive tale that uses climate change as a metaphor. In this story, Nature is a stand-in for the annihilation and genocide of Native peoples. And on a deeper level it is the story of the destruction of the Native people who exist outside of Western gender norms. 

Not only is the Earth fighting to survive, so are Native People as are Two Spirit, Mahu, Nonbinary and Transgender people. 

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Two Spirit: Dual Natures Indigenous Drag Perspectives on Climate Change will be on exhibit April 4-May 2 in Western Oregon University’s Cannon Gallery of Art in Campbell Hall, 345 Monmouth Ave. N., Monmouth. 

Performances will take place at 4 p.m. on Friday April 4, Friday, April 18, and Friday, May 2. The performances are free. A reception will be held after the May 2 performance. There is a content warning for the April 18 performance, which will include a discussion of sexual assault and violence.