The Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History has invited Indexical to curate this year’s edition of Beyond the Grave, a site-specific series at the historic Evergreen Cemetery. Join us for work by Madi McGain, Departure Duo, Mikhail Johnson, Angel Dominguez, and Aja Bond.

The cemetery is a place we visit to somehow communicate, in our own personal ways, with those connected to us in life. It’s a portal through time, a place of self-reflection, and a ledger of history etched in stone. This year for Beyond the Grave, the MAH is teaming up with Indexical to bring you two weekends of performances featuring the work of Madi McGain, Mikhail Johnson, Departure Duo, Angel Dominguez, and Aja Bond. Indexical’s Executive Director Andrew C. Smith invited artists to share work that connects us with those no longer living to create a series that highlights the cemetery as a place of connection to the past, and a vibrant source of new life in the present.

In this series, Madi McGain explores the idea of Evergreen Cemetery as a “silent” place, using the spatial geography of the site and minimal sonic accompaniment to inform her work. Departure Duo will perform Evil’s Peak by composer Mikhail Johnson, a work that explores the equalizing force of death in the context of the colonization of Jamaica and the integration of church and state. Angel Dominguez, a Santa Cruz poet of Mayan descent, reads from their new book Desgraciado, in which they communicate through letters with a Spanish conquistador who attempted to eradicate the Yucatan language—while building a memorial/monument to their grandfather out of stone. Aja Bond closes the evening with a meditation on dirt, decomposition, and the ways in which the bodies of the living return to the earth to nourish new life.

Performance Dates:

Friday, April 15 • 6-7pm
Saturday, April 16 • 1-2pm & 6-7pm
Friday, April 22 • 6-7pm
Saturday, April 23 • 1-2pm & 6-7pm

*Rain Days: Sunday, April 17 & 24 • 1-2pm