UFO Studies in Realms of the Indigenous and the Aesthetic
September 17, 2024
Work-in-Progress Seminar
Start time: 1:00 p.m.
End time: 2:00 p.m.
Location: The Commons Theater (907 Floyd Ave, Richmond, VA)
Description
Recent U.S. congressional hearings on UAP/UFO sightings have captured the attention of a growing number of citizens across the globe as new voices and researchers join a chorus of interest in paranormal phenomena. The fringe “science” of ufology now hosts regular conferences attended by experts in neuroscience, religious studies, engineering, military defense, and astrophysics. Noticeably absent from conversations on the topic are the contributions of indigenous communities, shamans, and artists, whose practices have long been labeled as too soft and superstitious for serious scientific inquiry. Informed by science-fiction, contemporary visual arts, and transhumanist theories of gender and sexuality, this talk will discuss the emerging field of ufology in the context of discarded theories of animism and ancient cultural knowledge.
About the Speaker
J. Molina-Garcia (she/they) is a Salvadoran-American media artist, writer, and educator. A citizen of the Global South and an American Dreamer, J’s research engages mystical and esoteric traditions of ancient Mesoamerica, South and Southeast Asia, and Pan-African spirituality. In this pursuit, she synthesizes marginalized realms of knowledge alongside science, science-fiction, non-western philosophy, and leftist political theory. Her aesthetic output takes on an epic scale, creating immersive physical and psychic environments that use lens-based and time-based technologies to transport viewers into non-physical realms. Her work is not only interdisciplinary, but multidimensional, functioning like a perceptual wormhole that attempts to ignite a viewer's unconscious cognitive abilities. Through heavy-handed alteration of photographic imagery, darkroom experiments, and performance projects that center her body as a transwoman, she elicits visionary experiences and emancipatory phenomena.
J holds an MFA degree in Photography+Extended Media from the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), and graduated with dual degrees in Photography and Art History from the University of North Texas. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Photography and Digital Futures at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA.