enya is a series of pop-up public performances emulating street performance  and celebrating the iconic, mysterious and ethereal Irish singer Enya. I am inspired by countless childhood memories driving in the car with my mother listening to Enya, daydreaming for hours as my siblings and I were taxied between Dad and Mom’s houses. I am equally inspired by Jammin’ Johnny who would stand every day on the same street corner in Lorain, Ohio, holding up a sign that says “EMINEM IS MY DADDY” even though he is probably close to the same age as Eminem. Johnny would play music and dance and hold up his sign all day every day, waving to passing and honking cars, indifferent to whether they were celebrating or laughing at him. I recently heard that he can still be spotted some days, thirty years later, though he is much older now.

Unannounced and unadvertised, I occupy street corners, municipal parks, and other public spaces in an attempt to be in the world in a way contrary to capitalist structures, notions of normalcy or sanity. Pedestrians and commuting cars become my audience in a practice that endears my persona to some and alienates others. I hold up a sign that says “HONK IF YOU LOVE ENYA” on one side and “ENYA IS MY MOM” on the other. I dance, wave, spin and turn, I hold the sign high. The absurd and unsettling makeup I don is a mask that allows me to act outside of societal norms and engage in an escapist fantasy where I wait for Enya to whisk me away to live in her castle with her cats in Ireland. The mask disrupts the feminine, demure, fairy-like uniform that accompanies the makeup. If you see Enya, will you tell her that I’m still here waiting for her here in Texas? Will you tell her that I love her?