In conjunction with the ongoing exhibition Endless Shout, the Institute of Contemporary Art presents Mouth of Darkness, a performance by artist travis set in motion by lead Endless Shout participant The Otolith Group.

This event is free and open to the public; register here.

travis, born in pre-integration, pre-electricity, pre-indoor plumbing Itawamba County, Mississippi, is the lead singer of the long-running Chicago-based gospel noise band ONO. Founded in 1980, ONO has long worked to scramble the lines between poetry, performance, punk, country, industrial and funk, with travis’s incantations and elaborate wardrobes the center of the sonic storm. A painter, poet, sculptor, performer and raconteur whose works have been exhibited in Tokyo, New York City, and Chicago, he began performing as a teenager playing spirituals at churches and jubilees. A U.S. Navy radioman / Data Communications Supervisor who served in Cuba, Vietnam and elsewhere from the mid to late 60s, travis was active in later decades organizing among LGBT and African-American veterans in Chicago. These histories come together in his art. Describing his performances, travis has declared, “I saw what Black bodies went through in Vietnam, and I live on the south side of Chicago and see what all the people live with there. To America, as a Black body, I am noise.”

Major support for Endless Shout has been provided by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage.