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Luna Merbruja & StormMiguel Florez - SANTES Project for Future Ancestors
9 Plays1 month ago
What if you could shape how you're remembered as an ancestor...while you're still alive? In this episode of Trans Heartbeat, we talk with artist-activists StormMiguel Florez and Luna Merbruja, co-creators of SANTES, a visionary project inviting queer trans BIPOC to reclaim their spiritual legacies. SANTES asks: How do you want to be fed on an altar? What miracles would you offer? Who are you here for, even after you're gone? It’s spiritual, playful, radical and full of joy, autonomy, and ancestral power.
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Transcript
Introduction to Guests and SANTES Project
00:00:09
Speaker
Hello and welcome to another episode of Trans Heartbeat. I'm your host, Michelle Matlock, and I encourage the use of all pronouns. Today on Trans Heartbeat, I'm honored to be joined by two visionary artists and community builders, Storm Miguel Flores and Luna Mabruja.
00:00:28
Speaker
Together, they've launched SANTES, a project that invites queer and trans BIPOC to imagine how we will be remembered, prayed to and honored as ancestors.
00:00:39
Speaker
while we are still alive. What makes Santez so powerful is not only its boldness in reframing legacy, but also the collaboration at its heart.
00:00:50
Speaker
Storm Miguel brings his lens as a filmmaker, musician, and cultural storyteller, while Luna brings their voice as a poet, healer, and ritual maker. Together, they've created a project that blends artistry, spirituality, and community care in ways that challenge how we think about death, memory, and belonging.
00:01:12
Speaker
This is Trans Heartbeat.
Personal Introductions and Excitement
00:01:15
Speaker
Hello, Storm Miguel and Luna. Welcome to Trans Heartbeat. Hi, Michelle. Hey, happy to be here. Awesome. ah Before we jump in will you both introduce yourselves with your full name and share your pronouns with our audience?
00:01:30
Speaker
Absolutely. I'm Luna Marbruja and I use they, them pronouns. And I'm Storm Miguel Flores and I use he, him pronouns. Fantastic. So let's get into it Gosh, I'm so excited to have this conversation with you all about your SANTES project.
00:01:44
Speaker
It feels like such a radical and tender project. can we Can you take us back to the beginning? you know What conversations, personal experiences, or cultural practices first sparked the idea for this project?
00:01:58
Speaker
And what made you two decide to step into this together as collaborators?
Origin and Personal Motivation of SANTES
00:02:03
Speaker
Well, Storm Miguel had the idea at first, and from my memory, we had talked about it on Facebook because I saw that he was starting this on this project and he was interested in finding a collaborator who was interested in talking about um living ancestorhood and, you you know, how do we remember our community when they've passed and the directions they want to leave to be remembered.
00:02:26
Speaker
So we started talking about it and we created this form called the Santas form, which is where we gathered information from community members about, you know, their favorite foods or the way they wanted to be canonized after passing.
00:02:41
Speaker
And that's sort of the where we got the ball rolling with Santas. And that was about three years ago. Yeah, Storm Miguel, there anything I might have missed? that's Yeah, that's it. like The idea came from, i was telling Luna earlier that it was just like this kind of selfish reason of me feeling like I don't ever know how to pray to the ancestors because I'm like, I don't know if they want to be bothered.
00:03:04
Speaker
i don't know you know i don't want to just make assumptions. I don't want to impose. and so I decided, like oh how cool would it be for us to be able to leave instructions about how we want to be interacted with when we become ancestors.
00:03:17
Speaker
and to have agency in that. And it's Santhus because it's a play on saints. I grew up learning about saints and learning about, um you know, if you lose something, you pray to St. Anthony, you pray to St. Michael for protection. And there's just like these different things that you think of different saints for.
00:03:34
Speaker
And so um i thought it would be great to take that back and bring it to QTBIPOC community for us to decide, like what is our miracles? like what are the What are the things that people can pray to us for?
00:03:47
Speaker
um How can we canonize ourselves in each other at this moment um so that we yeah just keep living you know in people's hearts and minds and and in and even people in the future maybe who didn't even know us, but they would know how to interact with us.
Cultural Practices and Legacy
00:04:03
Speaker
And so, yeah, i just wanted to have like a database that we could keep for people and pass on to others to keep for more people in the future. I love that. You know, I think it's interesting that, that, and exciting that we would get to shape how that interaction is, you know? And so what, what does that look like? Like, you know, can you give an example of how you, how you lead? i mean, you have to go too deep into it, but how you lead one into,
00:04:31
Speaker
you know, discovering that or or figuring that out. Yeah, I think it's very personal, right? I think everyone has a way that the only times that we really talk about or think about death is in an advanced directive or a last will when people are old. And that's kind of the time when they start thinking about those things. But I had this conversation with my grandparents but before this project when I was in my like early twenty s And i was kind of asking them, like, you know, what's your plan when you get older? Like, are you going to be living with folks who's going to take care of you? And I started being really upfront about being interested and taking care of them and like leading up into their and in their later years.
00:05:11
Speaker
And I started that. when they were still in their like early 60s. So they were very independent, still working. There's not no health issues on the table, but it was something I was thinking about because it's important that we take care of our elders. And that's just something that I grew up with as a cultural practice.
00:05:27
Speaker
So when it comes to Santhes, I kind of have the same mentality of like, how do you want to be remembered and cared for? How do you want people to feed you on their altar? How do you want to be you know loved and revered? And it could also be silly and playful.
00:05:44
Speaker
Like if someone has a favor they want to ask of you, how do you want them to ask it? um So I think that it's it took away... um I come from like a Christian background and it it doesn't have that kind of air for it for me. It's more about like very spiritual, very magical, very like ah more of my ah my indigenous upbringing of like using more herbs and candles and you know that kind of like relationship where it's more wholesome and there's a lot more autonomy rather than strict and there's a procedure that you have to follow like in certain religious practices.
00:06:20
Speaker
Yeah, and thanks, luna Yeah, it is very personal. like I think we want people to decide for themselves like if they want to participate. Some people are just like, nah, that's good. like like They don't really want to be thinking about that or they don't relate to it.
00:06:34
Speaker
um Some people might think it feels a little too religious. It's definitely for us. I know we've talked about it feels like it's taking the symbols back.
Reclaiming Cultural Practices and Empowerment
00:06:45
Speaker
um there is you know I've heard stories about um indigenous communities um basically kind of sneaking in there kind of um for lack of better word their deities or their spirits or spirit guides into the saints because the Catholic Church is... you know like saints A lot of times the saints are like Santa Muerte, for example, is now recognized. You were talking about, Luna, through the Catholic Church. We've had these conversations. I refer a lot to what Luna has been saying.
00:07:13
Speaker
but has been brought in by a lot of people who are Catholic, um who are indigenous to um to this land, to to South America, Central America.
00:07:25
Speaker
and so It is kind of this like covert, like we're taken back, we're going to kind of like infuse our beliefs into this religion that's been imposed on us. and For us, it's about even taking it beyond that and sanctifying and and canonizing our LGBTQ BIPOC community members.
00:07:43
Speaker
Because you know we often don't have a lot of agency. A lot of people lose connection to their own religion because so many religions end up denying us and and end up rejecting us.
00:07:54
Speaker
And so it is about like taking it back. to What are the favorite parts of the things that, for me, that I grew up with that still work for me? And we want people to decide when they fill out the form. It is a little you know based in what what Luna and I have known and think about and believe, but there's an opportunity within that for people to make it their own. There's questions you know that at the end that are like, if there's something if this doesn't you know if if there's something else, let us know what it is. How do you want people not to interact with you and your ancestors? Some people might be like, don't call on me. And this is my way of saying, like don't bother me.
00:08:30
Speaker
right Yeah. Leave me alone. yeah
00:08:38
Speaker
No, that's, that's really cool. I just love the idea of the freedom that this offering gives to folks. I really, the way you're explaining it, it's like, you know, just that opening up that freedom to be able to create it the any way that you want to using any of the traditions or making up your own traditions or just really defining that.
00:09:02
Speaker
It's really cool. And then also just being able to think about those conversations with our elders too. I lost my dad just about a year ago, but for many years before he passed, ah we had these conversations about what he wanted me to do, how he wanted to do it.
00:09:20
Speaker
You know, it just was so helpful for when he did pass that I knew exactly, you know, where to take his ashes and who to involve and where to go and what, you know, sort of what to say and how to remember him and that he wanted a celebration rather than like a funeral, you know? And so, so it's, it's just, it just brings up all of these things that we're not really, society doesn't really, I guess, encourage us to,
00:09:47
Speaker
to to think about. And also if we are thinking about it, sometimes it's in this defined way. So this is just so freeing and really amazing.
Spirituality and Community Merging in SANTES
00:09:58
Speaker
And so, you know, both of you are, you know, artists in your own right. So, ah Storm McGill, start with you. You know, you spent so much of your life documenting queer and trans histories through film.
00:10:10
Speaker
Why was it important for you to take that work beyond storytelling and into the deep spiritual space that Santas is bringing, where we're beginning to shape how we are remembered after we're gone?
00:10:23
Speaker
you know Before film i was I was writing songs and playing music most of my life. That's that's the my original kind of art artistic practice. And I feel like my songs were so deeply personal and so much about death and and living, you know family, people dying, losing not only like kind of the death of the body, but death of relationships, like a lot of loss and love.
00:10:47
Speaker
And so it was a very personal space for me. And going into film, it felt more like a communal space. So in a way, it feels like it's tying those things together because Santis feels very communal. We're trying to reach out to the full community to say like, hey, we want to know this about you. If you want to share it, we want to hold this information so that when you pass, we can let folks know what you want or people can come and see if you're in the database. Right.
00:11:10
Speaker
But it's it feels like a marriage of the two, of like bringing that deeply spiritual, deeply personal into the communal. And that's what Santhes feels like to me. does feel like an art project. And we have some ideas for art projects in the future for it.
00:11:24
Speaker
But it ah in and of itself feels like an art project. Because you know getting to just think about those things for myself was really great to fill out the form. And it's editable. So anytime somebody fills out a form, they can go back and edit their form.
00:11:37
Speaker
When I go.
00:11:45
Speaker
When I go, I want you to know.
00:11:59
Speaker
And so is the idea, I just sprung from what you said. So the idea that this is that this database is made public, so that people can, you know, sort of see what folks are, are doing and saying and the ideas behind it.
00:12:13
Speaker
Well, basically, we've told people that we will not share their information and until after they've died. Ah, okay. And so either we will know them or we'll find out through community or someone will know about Santas and say, hey, did so-and-so fill out a form, which has actually happened. Oh, wow. Cool.
00:12:31
Speaker
Unless we you know involve them in in an art project that we're working on, we'll get people's permission then to either share their information or have them you know talk about it publicly or be involved in and like a public art project some way. We've we've mentioned that in the forum itself. like We may end up doing something more with this. We would not do this without asking for your permission um if we want to involve you.
00:12:53
Speaker
Right. Right. Very cool. So i want to get back to that. But first, so Luna, ah so your work as a poet, performer, and healer has long-centered trauma, pleasure, and transformation.
00:13:04
Speaker
And so how does Santess continue this thread for you, particularly in reclaiming agency over our own death, dying, and ancestral memory? Absolutely. There was a poem I wrote, actually, where I gave some directions of what to do when i pass. And that, when Stormy Gow brought up this project, it absolutely just clicked. Like I immediately thought about some of those directions, which was like one of them was don't put me on the TDOR list.
00:13:29
Speaker
And I think that that's something that not everyone would know right off the bat to do. But that was something that I felt very strongly at the time that like, do not do this to me and do not make me a counter. Do not, for whatever reason, it was just important for me to let my death be within my community and not become like a political tool or like a news report. and I just wanted it to be for the people who knew me.
00:13:54
Speaker
um And there was other directions in there too about don't let white people make art of me. i don't want them to be invoking me. I am not for them. And um I've seen them do that to other queer and trans artists of color where they call on them because of their art, where they're living. And i think that especially because some of those artists were very pro black and brown. And I think that they would have some feelings about people making art of them that had never done it before, right? While they were living, but then they pass and suddenly people's rights to their bodies and their image or their name, you know, it becomes a gray area. So from those experiences, when I was seeing that happen within my community to some other artist friends, that's where I got this idea of like, I want to have some boundaries.
00:14:40
Speaker
because I don't want to be called in different directions. And there there's a certain group of people that I'm here for, and I'm like doing the work in my living. And I also want to do that work in my past life, in my afterlife, to be supporting the community.
00:14:54
Speaker
So um I think that's where the agency comes in about autonomy, is like I want to be there for my community. And i was talking to Storm Miguel about some some of the silly things too. Like, I don't mind being a petty ancestor. I don't mind being the one that ah you offer some coins to or some candy because you want to like trip someone on the sidewalk or like, you know, someone would do dirty and like, you want them to lose some hair. That's fine.
00:15:21
Speaker
Whatever it is, like, I'm okay being that person that just caused a little, you know, mischievous energy in your life. um And I think because again,
00:15:33
Speaker
saints have just been these holy figures that only do good. i think we can complicate that. We're messy people. We live messy adult human lives. We can live messy afterlives as well. And I just wanted that to be reflected that like, you know, be who you are in the afterlife as well. Not just well who you are while living. Mm-hmm.
00:15:51
Speaker
Oh, I love that. It makes it so fun and entertaining. And, you know, and doesn't it isn't just this like, holy sanctimonious thing, but we can have some fun with it for sure. Love that.
00:16:07
Speaker
and So, both of you, talk to me a little bit. I think I find it interesting when you talk about this potential art project that that could unfold out of this. Talk to me a little bit about the vision around that.
00:16:19
Speaker
I'll throw it to you, Sarah Miguel, first, and I'd love to hear what you have to say to Luna. Well, a
Future Plans: Podcast and Art Show
00:16:24
Speaker
couple of things. One is we're starting our own podcast that we're going to be releasing around Dia de Muertos.
00:16:31
Speaker
So that's one piece is just to talk about all of this with with guests and community. And then the other is to have a ah visual art show where... trying to get We want to get the funding to do it so we can actually pay artists. And this is all QTBIPOC. And I just want to say that because i said earlier, like a lot of times LGBTQ queer people lose kind of access to their own spiritual to the spirituality that they were born into.
00:16:54
Speaker
But also, BIPOC lose that through colonization, have lost that through colonization. And that's why this feels so very specific to QTBIPOC folks. And so we want to do an art show where we pair participants with artists and artists create a um like a ah portrait of them that would be then the centerpiece of an altar that they would build with community.
00:17:17
Speaker
And so this art show would be ah series of altars in a space that people got to build with to to themselves with their community. wow And actually, these are the colors. This is how I like this. this is These are the foods I want.
00:17:32
Speaker
And that it would be this is like this room full of these altars and full of the the people that are embodied by them. Luna, do you want to add anything about your thoughts or vision around that? Yes. I...
00:17:43
Speaker
When I got my hair done a few weeks ago, my hairstylist told me this really cute thing where he's like, my mama taught me that whenever you're dating someone, they better not come empty handed.
00:17:55
Speaker
Every time they see you, they should not come empty handed. And I have been thinking about that in terms of this art project where with Santhes of like, We talk about self-care plans, we talk about community care plans, right? But I think that there's something interesting when you start talking about being a living ancestor and like how you want to be honored and remembered or revered.
00:18:16
Speaker
And I think that that takes it to a different realm where you're thinking of yourself with high regard and then also putting the things that you love out there. to your folks to request or to give to you.
00:18:28
Speaker
So the idea of building an altar to me, when we were talking about this, it was like, oh my God, and people get to like do this with their community because it it becomes this this collaboration and it becomes this, you know, i just imagine what it's like to be a participant standing in front of their altar with all of their loved ones and like just receiving that love while they're alive.
00:18:49
Speaker
ah One of the reasons we decided to do this is because we kind of only hear about those moments that like, a wedding maybe or a funeral, where you have like everyone come together and really express love and gratitude and joy and celebration.
00:19:03
Speaker
and we wanted to capture that energy with this art project where you're coming together, you're building this altar, but it's for someone who's still living and who's still here. And it's someone that you care about and you want to right, to give them all of this love and this care.
00:19:15
Speaker
So I think that that energy was kind of like what excited me about the art project was like, yes, the topic can be a little morbid, but it's really the center of it is about like care.
00:19:27
Speaker
How do we care for our community and how do we show that while we are still living? Yeah, I love that. Just that celebration while we're still here. Yeah, I think that's that's really, really important.
00:19:40
Speaker
So to both of you, what not that I'm missing something, but what am I missing in terms of what you want to say about this project? And I just sort of throw that out there just in the moment because I want to i want you to be able to communicate about it, what you want to communicate, not just me throwing you know questions at you.
00:19:58
Speaker
So if anything, Luna, what what about this project that you know do you want you know that i that we haven't answered yet, do you want to say?
Changing Perceptions of Death
00:20:07
Speaker
Yeah, I, for me, i want to challenge folks' relationship with death.
00:20:13
Speaker
I think that that is something that I'm really trying hard to do because understandably there's a lot of fear, but I think that that ends up impacting people who are ill, who are disabled, who are having their own fears of death.
00:20:28
Speaker
And it creates this culture in which no one wants to talk about it, no one wants to address it. And then when people pass, there's all this chaos and all this pent up feeling and it can be a really a really emotionally charged experience. So when I talk about death, I try to challenge that people's relationship with it to let it be one of positivity, to be proactive about it, to let it be one where you can anticipate what's to come, right? So like when you mentioned, Michelle, like talking to your dad about his plans,
00:20:59
Speaker
my heart warmed up because I can only imagine what it was like to know exactly what to do and then how good it must have felt to do that for him and say like I gave him exactly the transition that he wanted. Right.
00:21:12
Speaker
And I want that for everyone because I do think when I've experienced death in my family growing up, we had drums and we had flower ceremonies and we had, you know, indigenous practices and, know,
00:21:24
Speaker
Yes, there was tears, but there was community and there was family and there was a celebration and it was about their strength and their spirit never leaves you. and And that's the message I want to pass on to everyone to kind of share that relationship that we're always connected to our loved ones, if their physical form is here or not, and to let that be empowering and and comforting.
00:21:44
Speaker
Beautiful. Thank you so much for that. Storm McGill, what about you? is there i mean, I think we've said it all about the project. and And I think that I have always had a pretty close relationship with death since I was a kid.
00:21:58
Speaker
i lost my first big death was was losing my cousin, Denise, when she was six and I was eight. And she was hit by someone who was... who was drunk and driving.
00:22:11
Speaker
And it was the way my family responded was just like kind of amazing. I have i kind of feel like my family really knows how to be around death.
00:22:22
Speaker
And like they took me to go see her body. They let me touch her. They let me kiss her. They let me talk to her. And I was just this little eight year old that was just like, this was all very new. Like I had, you know, my my dad that my grandfather had died.
00:22:37
Speaker
He was much older. I didn't know how to deal with that. That was a couple of years before that. And at this point I was eight and Denise was like, she was like my, she was my ride or die as a little kid. She was the boss of me in fact.
00:22:49
Speaker
And so then because of that, it just wasn't scary. It was, it was awful. It was devastating, but it wasn't scary. And I would talk to her and I think because they let me be with her body, i just, I would just talk to her all the time. If I was home alone scared, I would talk to her.
00:23:07
Speaker
or I would just have a little conversation. i just felt like she was my guardian angel. And so that was like my first kind of understanding of like we don't when people die, they're not gone. you know they're They're gone in the way we're used to them and the way we'd really like them to be here, but they're not gone. so So this feels like a way to honor that. And also I take it very seriously that they're not gone. And like I said earlier, I don't know if people want to be bothered or not, or how how to get get their attention.
00:23:34
Speaker
um Maybe they don't like that food that I keep putting on the altar. With the existing ancestors and many ancestors to come, I won't ever know that. But with many, I feel like I will now um because of what we're doing with Santhis.
00:23:48
Speaker
And you know also, like when I'm an ancestor, I'm like, I know how I want you to get my attention. you know like Put some red chili on that altar and and make sure you have you know something with a lot of cheese and some lactate. and Yeah. And like, you know, just just like here are the things I want to be able to help with, like in the form. I said, like, I want to be prayed to to help people um have good, like beautiful communication and relationships and have like really loving, open, openly communicative relationships.
00:24:20
Speaker
respectful relationships with other people and also pray to me when you need to get funding for your art project i'll try to help with that the best i can from the other side like those kinds of things feel like yeah i want to like what what am i doing how do i you know try to help people now how can i maybe have more more little more power to help people on the other side and so yeah just those are just some kind of personal thoughts about why this project is important and exciting to me yeah Yeah, that's amazing. Thank you both for sharing those stories and also just for creating this project. It's so unique, wonderful and powerful, especially for, you know, centering BIPOC in this project.
Connecting with SANTES Project
00:25:01
Speaker
project
00:25:15
Speaker
Let us know, let our audience know how they can follow each of you as individual folks and then also how they can connect with Santas and um explore more and make sure they keep in tune what's going on with this project.
00:25:31
Speaker
Absolutely. Yeah. I'm on social media at Lunamer Bruja on Instagram and Facebook mostly. And for Santas, you can contact me or Storm Miguel directly for the form. We have it as a Google link form so we can send it out.
00:25:47
Speaker
And then we have an Instagram as well, which is at Santas Project. Yes, and by the time this airs, we will hopefully have a webpage up, which will be santisproject.com.
00:25:57
Speaker
So you can go there and find the form, and we'll be posting the podcast there as well. Beautiful. Storm Miguel, Luna, thank you so much for coming on Trans Heartbeat and sharing this beautiful project with everyone.
00:26:12
Speaker
I can't wait to see how it all unfolds. Thank you so much for having us. Yeah, thanks for having us, Michelle. Storm Miguel Luna, thank you both for sharing the vision and spirit behind SANTES with us.
00:26:26
Speaker
Thank you for centering queer and trans BIPOC people in conversation about memory and belonging. In a world that so often tries to erase us, SANTES reminds us that we get to define who we are and how we'll be remembered. It calls us to honor ourselves and each other, not just after we're gone,
00:26:47
Speaker
but while we're here living, creating, and loving in real time. To our listeners, I hope this conversation sparks your own reflections about legacy, about the ways we hold one another, and about the community we're building that stretches across time.
00:27:04
Speaker
This has been Trans Heartbeat. I'm Michelle Matlock. Thank you for listening, and may we all carry forward the wisdom of honoring ourselves and each other as ancestors in the making.