In “Picnic Parade,” a picnic procession takes place while walking to drum beats for several blocks. The procession is followed by a picnic in the park with the characters and the public. The ritual involves serving offerings by the attendants, pictured wearing white gloves, to the community. This work is intended to respond to ethnic, racial, geographic, socioeconomic, gender, and sexist separatisms.

Leading the entourage, I wear a large quilted gown made of colorful vinyl tablecloths that becomes a large picnic blanket. With my matching performers we parade into a park site with wicker baskets filled with fruits and water. My co-performers’ roles are to serve my queen character and invite guests who are members of the public. The goal of this work is to create a shared multicultural dining and leisure experience where people from all walks of life are invited to gather and converse in a harmoniously colorful patchwork.