gen)d(re: a rehearsal for survival

gen)d(re: a rehearsal for survival is a community-engaged transdisciplinary arts project exploring connections between Jamaica and New Orleans through sound, water, migration, and collective making. Centered on a floating sound system built from bamboo and reclaimed fiber drum barrels, the project culminates in a site-specific installation, performance, and public activation at a water site in New Orleans, LA.

The project unfolds between Fall 2026 and Summer 2028 through workshops, sound experiments, and collaborative skill-sharing focused on bamboo raft construction, Jamaican sound system culture, and environmental awareness. The live activation combines sound, sculpture, performance, and installation to create an immersive environment engaging local waterways and public space. The final presentation will include an archive of photography, interviews, and video documentation.

gen)d(re’s inspiration emerges from my lived experience as a Jamaican-born trans artist in the Gulf South and  interest in how diasporic Caribbean communities adapt to changing social and environmental conditions. The title gen)d(re merges genre and gender to investigate sound as a fluid, embodied knowledge system. The project asks how queer and trans bodies develop strategies for survival amid rupture and migration, and how vulnerability becomes a method of adaptation and collective learning.

Rooted in the sonic relationship between Jamaica and New Orleans, both port cultures shaped by Black musical innovation, environmental precarity, and migration, gen)d(re frames sound, fluid embodiment, and ecological knowledge as interconnected forms of learning and cultural continuity.