For multidimensional artist KEEKS, her experience as a Black trans woman has found her consistently placing rest and emotional processing on the backburner. The weight of survival looming so large that it often becomes the sole narrative she shares. What happens when she makes space to share the absolute devastation of heartbreak in her experience? Who is she in the moments when she’s afforded the opportunity to narrate her story with unfiltered authenticity? Does it open a gateway for her to connect with her sisters in a deeply meaningful and impactful manner?

KEEKS explores these questions in her latest project, “Coquillage” (the French word for seashell), where she pulls from the metaphors of shells protecting their hosts from deep waters, while still living in them. She expresses how seashells store hopes and wishes, tales of love lost and gained, while representing a form of security and underscoring the inherent vulnerability of the host it shelters.

"Coquillage" stands as a tribute to water—an exploration of our profound connection to it, and by extension, to each other.

Opening for KEEKS will be Cosmos Dark, a performance art experience by musician Vaughn Kimmons, aka Brown Alice of Brown Calculus.

Join Portland’5 Centers for the Arts’ Department of Culture and Community for a free concert and visual experience with KEEKS and Cosmos Dark at the Winningstad Theatre.

Questions & Accommodation Requests: Portland’5 Director of Culture and Community, Ruby Joy White at [email protected]

ABOUT KEEKS

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KEEKS (Formally known as MAARQUII) is an Arkansas born, Oregon raised quadruple threat rapper, singer, dancer, & multimedia artist. She informs her artistic practice through her southern & northwestern roots, & the spirituality that she finds through her Blackness & Womanhood. Weaving her works together through a myriad of mediums, she pulls you into her world of reclaiming space, honoring ancestors, & transcendent vulnerability.

Instagram: @isthatkeeks

ABOUT COSMOS DARK

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Cosmos Dark is a performance art exploration of absurdity by musician Vaughn Kimmons (of Brown Calculus). Through the use of off-kilter rhythms, haunting vocals and sometimes the recitation of a text message from a former partner, they invite us to befriend the shadow as a path to liberation. During their performance they are pleased to share a screening of their short film, Feast of the Tide, a celebration of the multi-facets of Black women.

Instagram: @thebrownalice