Between 2021 and 2025, Black nonbinary artist Sage Ni’Ja Whitson visited 91 locations across 15 states – in all of these sites a trans, gender nonconforming, or intersex individual had died, either by murder or suicide. At each site they conducted a ceremony of their own to bear witness to what had happened there.
“It was very challenging in ways that I’m continuing to mend from and rest with,” they said. “It is not ‘inexpensive’ on my body and spirit. That cost I knew would be there.”
Currently showing at Los Angeles’s California African American Museum (CAAM) is These Waking Glories, Whitson’s solo show displaying a variety of photos and other pieces in conjunction with these ceremonies. A moving and important bearing of witness to the violence that continues to ravage the communities of both racial and gender minorities, it is a powerful show that should be experienced.
One of the central pieces in These Waking Glories is a series of 90 pedestals commemorating the individuals that Whitson is remembering. Atop each pedestal is a jar containing essences that Whitson developed from materials gathered at each site they visited, as well as a velvet stole bearing the name of the deceased. Two of the pedestals bear no name, representing the unknown who have passed.
Locations that Whitson visited to honor deceased individuals included Los Angeles, Chicago, Cleveland, the Bronx, Harlem, Jacksonville, San Francisco, Montgomery, Phoenix, Atlanta and Baton Rogue.
Whitson chose to make each of the pedestals exactly 61 inches tall so as to make audiences slow down to pay attention to them, and to interact with them in a way that garnered the respect that each individual being honored deserved. “It was an important decision so that there would be a reverential distance,” Whitson explained. “I was thinking about the way that shrines in the Yoruba tradition are created, some of which are not accessible to the public or uninitiated members of community.”
For each ceremony, Whitson would collect various materials from the sites that they visited, using their training in herbalism to make these gleanings into liquid essences. Whitson then put each site’s essence into an individual jar, placing one atop each pedestal, corresponding to the site in which the honored person passed. While collecting these materials, Whitson also performed various rites consistent with the practice they developed, including checking in with the land to receive permission to move forward, then making a series of offerings that included herbs, sage, tobacco and other materials.
“I developed protocol that was mostly repeated at each site, with variations based on what the spirit called at each space,” they shared. “There was praying in those locations, which sometimes looked like words out loud, sometimes songs, sometimes quieter meditations, to be invoking the names of a transcestor outlaw out loud.”
Sometimes Whitson’s practice could bring them into potentially dangerous situations. While honoring the death of a trans woman named Bonaire “Bonnie” Black, who died under uncertain circumstances in a parking garage in Atlanta, Whitson found themselves attracting unwanted attention and had to leave before they were ready to do so.
“That site, like many others, was active with folks in their day-to-day,” they said. “I had to move quickly because I was afraid to be noticed by folks who were there to do their business. It was just less safe for me to be there.”
An important part of Whitson’s practice is dialoging with the local transgender communities in the locations that they visited. Whenever they were able to, Whitson would facilitate a story-sharing circle where Black trans, gender nonconforming and intersex people could share their own histories of survival in an often hostile world. These gatherings would often intersect with forms of trans resilience ongoing in those locations, such as DJ parties, fundraisers for unhoused individuals and movement work to advance the rights of Black and trans people.
“It really became important that the work needed to celebrate the lives and stories of the living, while also honoring the losses,” they said. “It became a beautiful network of people, and it was just heartwarming to me.”
When Whitson began performing these ceremonies in 2021, they did not know how timely These Walking Glories would be, coming into the world at a moment when the federal government and dozens of state governments have waged a war of oppression against trans people. It also comes amid what Human Rights Campaign has labeled an “epidemic” of violence against trans people, fueled in large part by propaganda emanating from local and federal governments, with Black trans women being hit the hardest.
“Now when trans people are experiencing a government attempt to erase our identities, it’s another kind of death, in addition to the epidemic of murders,” said Whitson. “It’s the systemic erasure by this federal government. It feels more than important to be doing this now, and I hope it’s done in a way that it’s not about the spectacle or glorifying the violence of their losses but to really center the spirit of memory, and to bring people together.”
For Whitson, These Walking Glories has helped them to move forward as an artist. And up and coming creator, Whitson has been part of a residency at CAAM since 2022, taking new steps forward in this and other artistic endeavors.“This project for sure gifted me the courage to stand and commit to the vision of a work. It called me to value the capital-C ceremony of the work,” they said. “I’ve learned the value and beauty of what can happen when that vision is respected and honored.”
Cameron Shaw, CAAM’s executive director and chief curator, believes deeply in the importance of extending opportunities like these. “Supporting this work through CAAM’s residency program reflects the Museum’s ongoing commitment to Black artistic practices that hold complexity, expand boundaries, and create frameworks for healing,” Shaw said.
Although These Walking Glories has been draining in both an emotional and financial sense – with Whitson crisscrossing back and forth throughout America over a period of years – they believe very much in what they are doing and are determined to continue forward. For them, building spiritual traditions is indispensable work and part of their contribution to the survival of their community. “Building the spiritual vitality of trans communities – of Black trans communities – is worthy work that’s important to our survival,” they said. “It’s work that I want to continue.”
