Gabrielle Civil is a black feminist performance artist, poet, and writer, originally from Detroit, MI. She has premiered over fifty performance artworks including Black Weirdo School (Pop Up Critique) (2023), Translated Bodies (2023), the déjà vu—live (2022), and Jupiter (2021). Her performance memoirs include Swallow the Fish (2017), Experiments in Joy (2019), (ghost gestures) (2021), the déjà vu (2022) and In & Out of Place (2024). Her writing has also appeared in New Daughters of Africa, Kitchen Table Translation, Migrating Pedagogies, DanceNotes and Experiments in Joy: a Workbook. Her videos and performance stills have been shown around the world. She teaches creative writing, performance, and black feminism at the California Institute of the Arts. The aim of her work is to open up space.