Dynasty Handbag, Titanic Depression

Titanic Depression is a live performance starring Dynasty Handbag – the subversive and dystopian alter ego of artist Jibz Cameron (b. 1975, California) – that sends up James Cameron’s 1997 film, Titanic, reimagining it as a hilariously bleak parable of human arrogance. More a live multimedia event than solely a performance, Titanic Depression combines animation, a video backdrop by filmmaker Mariah Garnett, and soundscapes, together with Dynasty Handbag’s characteristic physical comedy and improvisation to address issues of class and gender inequality, our collective mortality, and runaway, consumer-driven climate disaster.

In Dynasty Handbag’s world, the notorious iceberg melts in balmy weather before the Titanic ever reaches it, the vessel sinking anyway in a tour de force of nonsensical, collective doom—a tragicomedy of humanity’s own making that no amount of metal straws or fastidiously-sorted recycling will fix. As the artist has noted, at a time of climate crisis on seemingly every front, “levity arises out of the sheer pressure cooker of the era we are collectively experiencing.”

Titanic Depression
Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles, CA - November 2024
Production Credits
Performer, Director, Script: Jibz Cameron
Visual Director: Mariah Garnett
Production Manager: Reilly Horan
LA Lighting Designer: Serena Wong
LA Lighting Associate: Ryan Clark
LA Video and Sound Supervisor: Nick Chimienti

New York Live Arts (NYLA) Live Ideas 2023: Planet Justice, New York, NY - January 2024
Production Credits
NY Lighting Designer: Serena Wong
NY Video and Sound Supervisor and Editor: James Bennett

Pioneer Works World Premiere, New York, NY - May 2023
Production Credits
Original Technical Director / Sound Designer: Chloe Alexandra Thompson
Dramaturg: Sacha Yanow
Co-Writer and Creative Producer: Amanda Verwey
Animation: Amy Von Harrington
Original Lighting Concept: Dylan Phillips
Original Concept Collaborator: Sue Slagle (SUE-C)
Assistant Producer: Tyler Rai
Drawings: Jibz Cameron
Additional Sound Design: Jibz Cameron
Additional Video Editing: James Bennett, Scotty Slade Wager
Visual Production Assistant: Val Toranto
Puppet Design: Miguel Alaya
Costumes: 69 US, Amanda Verwey

Jibz Cameron is a writer, performer, visual artist and actor. She is most well known for her multi-media performance work as alter ego Dynasty Handbag, which has spanned over 20 years and has been presented at arts venues such as The New Museum of Contemporary Art, MOCA, The Hammer Museum, REDCAT, BAM, Centre Pompidou among others. Jibz is a 2022 Guggenheim fellow, a 2021 United States Artist Award recipient and a 2020 Creative Capital Grant awardee. She has hosted the popular underground variety show Weirdo Night in LA and NY since 2016. Her film Weirdo Night, directed by Mariah Garnett is an official 2021 Sundance Film Festival selection. In May of 2023 she premiered a new theater piece called Titanic Depression. She released her first comedy record, The Bored Identity, on Wacky Wacko records in November 2023. Jibz maintains a longtime practice of drawing and painting and is honored to be included in 2023’s MADE IN LA Biennial at The Hammer Museum in Los Angeles. She is currently writing a book which will be published by DOPAMINE queer press in 2025.

Dynasty Handbag: Titanic Depression was commissioned by Pioneer Works, New York and curated by David Everitt Howe. It was co-presented by New York Live Arts as part of Live Ideas 2023: Planet Justice. The performance is made possible with support from Creative Capital, The Guggenheim Foundation, Ballroom Marfa, Center for Performance Research, Chorus Foundation, and MacDowell.

Dynasty Handbag, Titanic Depression is presented at MOCA as part of Wonmi's WAREHOUSE Programs.

Wonmi’s WAREHOUSE Programs is organized by Alex Sloane, Associate Curator, and is produced by Amelia Charter, Producer of Performance and Programs with Michele Huizar, Programming Assistant, The Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles.

Wonmi's WAREHOUSE Programs is founded by Wonmi & Kihong Kwon and Family.