The self image is one of the most ubiquitous forms of expression on the Internet. Every waking moment is potential selfie material and every mood worth (over)sharing. Self image is inevitably at the forefront of my production as a performer and, while I pretty much post selfies every day of my life, I'm interested in the kinds of self image we don't share. In 2008 as I anticipated my father's imminent death after years of battle with colon cancer I took videos of myself regularly, never sharing or even reviewing a single one. Ten years later I find myself fascinated with this past self. My grief has developed into something more palatable and I have begun to mark it's tenth year by viewing this footage for the first time... and doing so publicly. This will be the second instalment of this process in which I hope to complete the viewing process.
Johnny Forever Nawracaj is a nonbinary Polishborn writer, performer and multidisciplinary artist currently based in Montreal. Their work weaves surrealist narrative through soft sculpture, video, and performance to explore love, loss, and longing with a particular investment in these themes as a part of radical queer and trans cultural production.
Forever has shown video work internationally at the Gallery of Modern Art in Glasgow as part of sh[out]: LGBTI Contemporary Art and Human Rights (2009), in San Francisco as part of the National Queers Arts Festival (2012), as well as at The Coming Society in Hong Kong (2013), and the Seoul 12th International New Media Festival in the curated series Queers Can't Wait (2012). Their ongoing collaboration with sound artist Gambletron has brought them to Santiago, Chile for 10th Encuentro festival presented by NYU's Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics (2016), as well as the Miami Performance International Festival (2017).