The TRANScend Ambassadors, in collaboration with visual artist Randy Polumbo and Longhouse Reserve, presents Sing Me to Heaven, a summer celebration of queer spirit, love and remembrance. This afternoon concert pairs music from our Pride concert with a suite from Stations of the Lost: A Trans Requiem. Stations of the Lost is a secular/gnostic requiem, a theatre piece written by Dr. Felix Graham in collaboration with TRANScend and Randy Polumbo, visual artist. The requiem suite, in concert format, is performed alongside an installation of 14 panels, replacing the traditional stations of the cross with commemorative art pieces honoring the lives of trans artists (both past and present).

Joint Artist Statement for Stations of the Lost:

Traditionally, memorial works for marginalized people have posed as a mea culpa - looking back in sorrow. While looking back is important, we believe that looking forward is just as important...and a lot more beneficial to the people still living. As such, we are creating new art music in the classical tradition in honor of the national trans day of remembrance/resilience. Not just to celebrate the trans artists who have been lost to violence or societal neglect, but to uplift the trans artists who are with us now.

In the spirit of Dr. Graham’s composition, Randy Polumbo has painted a series of images of birds from life. These were re-imagined by his studio from 3-D scans of TRANScend members hands and faces. Each bird is made of Reishi Mushroom mycelium grown into a mold made from elements gathered from TRANScend members and is associated with an important trans artist or activist, many of whom were lost to violence or societal neglect, and all of whom contributed significantly to trans art, culture and visibility. Soaring fiercely, with wings made of human hands, and witnessing through over-scaled blown glass eyes. They draw a line between the tragic past and celebration of living trans people and mark that we are all watching and demand a just and inclusive future.