J.E. Hernandez Brings VOCES FANTASMAS To Contemporary Arts Museum Houston

Composer, Cinematographer, and Director J. E. Hernández brings his visceral and haunting Kennedy Center collaboration Voces Fantasmas to Contemporary Arts Museum Houston.

The work confronts his crushing and life-altering experiences in ICE Detention for 60 days.

Voces Fantasmas (Phantom Voices) is a multi-disciplinary program that consists of a 30-35 minute performance which honors immigrants detained inside ICE immigrant detention centers. This program is inspired by J.E. Hernandez's own experiences inside the Houston detention facility, where he spent 60 days detained in 2013. Hernandez seeks to honor those who have since become no more than phantom voices in his memory, continuing the path that his art has taken since the event. The program is made up of music, dance, and film, exploring the way in which each medium can - both together and separately - say something about the phantom voices that are now lost to the eternity of time. The piece will be performed by soprano Shannon Murray, the Apollo Chamber Players, the Houston Contemporary Dance Company, and film by Houston's FILMATIC.

In addition to a limited seating live-performances at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston December 5, 2020 at 12, 3, and 6 PM, the work will be streamed via the CAMH's Website, Youtube, and Facebook. Tickets will be made available for reservation on Thursday, December 3 through the Contemporary Art Museum Houston's website.

"Seven years ago, my life changed forever, and my vision of humanity was crushed. I was separated from my family and detained by ICE for sixty days inside an immigrant detention center. I lived with many different people, some who died while imprisoned. Though I am living as a free man today, their faces and their voices are with me, and will be forever. Voces Fantasmas is my way to not only honor, but project these voices and faces out into the consciousness of the public, so that their struggles will live beyond life and death."

- J. E. Hernández