BODY OF WORK is a feature-length documentary exploring the line between self expression and self exploitation in the world of performance art. Centering the collaborative relationship between queer artists Gina Cornejo (she/they) and Lonesome Bill Walker (he/him), this documentary will follow the lifespan of an experimental theater piece from concept to production. With practices based in endurance, dialogue, and play, the film will not only produce a portrait of the two artists in conversation with these themes, but highlight a larger tension between the body as a medium to be explored and a resource to be exploited.



Americana Peruana Cornejo’s experience as an experimental writer, immersive storyteller, and solo performer collides with the practice of trans, disabled Walker, the self-taught painter and sculptor with a burgeoning interest in performance art. Three years of forcing their wildly different artistic backgrounds into occupying a single, collaborative space results in notebooks full of project proposals of enormous size. Using elements of rage, humor, pleasure, and connection, these concepts encompass puppets, costuming, practical effects, set building, and guerilla public performances. While Cornejo and Walker’s practice fosters a no holds barred approach to art, the question remains: “As artists, where we are forced to give but never take, accomplish but never own, how do we maintain autonomy and dignity while positioned to exploit our physical and creative bodies?”

With a history of producing each other’s exhibitions, co-writing projects together, and making guest appearances in each other’s work, Cornejo and Walker have developed a shared artistic language that has won them recognition in the Milwaukee, WI art world. However, the duo continues to encounter obstacles–arts funding largely lacks opportunities for performance pieces, racism and transphobia color the majority of interactions with curators and spaces, and the burden of scraping together unfunded projects falls on the shoulders of the pair and their supportive but equally overburdened community of fellow queer artists and friends.

Support BODY OF WORK today to capture an unwavering look at Cornejo and Walker’s shared joy, obsessions, and frustrations as they explore the body as a creative–yet finite–medium.

Funding and stretch goals:

$5k = pre-production/materials costs

$10k = short film length/crew/submissions

$15k = feature film length/crew/submission fees

$20k+ = feature film/theater production/crew/submission fees

Funds support:

-Paying a queer and trans cast and crew

-Materials

-Travel

-Application fees

-Space rental fees

Inspirations:

-American Movie, 1999

-Pee-wee as Himself, 2025

-Waiting for Guffman, 1996

-Singin' in the Rain, 1952

-Cabaret, 1972

-Wayne's World, 1992