Per°Form Open Academy of Arts and Activations 2024 Presentation — A Performative Plea by YoNoFui

Synopsis

The traditional plea is a partial version of the facts seen through a biased lens. The defence seeks to victimise. The prosecution looks at us through a punitive prism, homogenising circumstances and trajectories. This plea attempts a different movement. In their presentation, YoNoFui explores using “plea” to make it our own and dynamise its meaning. It is an accusatory plea with no punishment in mind. It is the opportunity to challenge legal language. To implode and start anew.

About YoNoFui

Maria and Alejandra are members of YoNoFui, a transfeminist, grassroots, and anti-prison collective made up of LGBTQNBA+ individuals and cis women, some of whom have been or are currently incarcerated. In their 22 years of activism, they established a School of Arts, Crafts, and Political Experimentation, both inside and outside prison facilities. Additionally, they formed a Workers’ Cooperative with various productive units, including a beauty shop, textile design, screen printing, and collective publishing house: Tinta Revuelta. They have created “seconding spaces” to support each other in affective and material community networks of mutual aid. They conduct workshops on Alternative Justice and Penal Abolition, write books, and initiate discussions.