In dialogue with the theme of ChamberQUEER’s June festival, “climate,” Siren Songs highlights the ocean as a liminal site of decentered queer agency – a fundamentally remote, primordial environment where complex life began and continues to flourish beyond the arbitrary categories of sex and sexuality. Initially a concept by Jeremy Martin exploring sea animals – clownfish, sea horses, coral, barnacles – who exhibit same-sex, intersex, and even “gender” fluid behaviors, Siren Songs grew into both a celebration of the ocean as an ancient site and source of queerness both actual and fantastical (unless you believe in merpeople), and an examination of the many ways queer liberation and environmental activism interconnect.

Both the LGBTQ+ community and the natural environment are under existential attack by the same extractive fascist/capitalist system that seeks to categorize, control, consume, and ultimately stamp out all fluid, whimsical, idiosyncratic, potently authentic, or radically empowered forms of individual and collective expression and existence. As a defiant form of protest, Siren Songs affirms that queerness has been embedded in nature for millions of years and that nature can serve as a blueprint for revolution – for freedom – against the hegemonic forces destroying our planet and our humanity. That caring deeply for nature is the first step towards preserving its fragile, life-sustaining beauty. We hope that Siren Songs goes beyond inspiring awareness and leads to action and stewardship of both our local ecosystems and queer communities.

Thank you so much to all of Siren Songs’ visionary collaborators, to ChamberQUEER for making this possible, and to community partner Genspace, a Brooklyn-based community biolab providing an inclusive platform for innovation in biotechnology, genomics, and more.

– Aqueeressence Duo (Daniel Schreiner and Yoshi Weinberg)