Finessed by the visuals of trap music videos and black social media, the mainstream has been (re)introduced to the performance of “making it rain” – the act of pitching money, like a card dealer, into the air and allowing gravity to flutter the bills to the ground. In the age of debit cards, wire transfer apps, and Bitcoin, this strip club staple emphasizes currency-as-object and asserts a distinct symbology created through the direct interaction of practitioner and patron. Paper Rain is an interactive performative investigation that elevates the vernacular of exotic dancing, as performed by women, and transforms male privilege into plastic material for manipulation.

Photo by Scott Shaw, 2017