Shoppers of culture and curious Angelenos are flocking to Pieter Performance Space this Juneteenth weekend to see Sissies: Something Perfect Between Ourselves, a short but resonant installation and performance that centres Black LGBTQ+ creatives and honours community histories in a warm, immersive way.

  • What it is: A mixed-media exhibition and performance blending film, fashion, movement and sound into occupiable sculptural environments.
  • When and where: Runs June 19–21, 2026 at Pieter Performance Space, 2701 N Broadway, Los Angeles; specific hours and a Saturday-evening performance are listed online.
  • Feel and impact: Designed to be intimate and reparative , guests describe it as moving, tender, and restorative; the work smells faintly of costumes and memory.
  • Who made it: Led by choreographer Bernard Brown with co-creators Du’Ron Fisher and Malachi Miffleton; developed over three years with previews at Red Cat and Annenberg Beach House.
  • Why it matters: The project archives Black queer underground culture and arrives amid urgent conversations about erasure and the need to preserve marginalised histories.

A visceral opening: why this exhibit lands right now

Sissies hits the Pieter stage the weekend of Juneteenth , deliberately timed to intersect with Pride Month and Black Music Month. You walk in expecting theatre and find something softer, more porous: rooms you can inhabit, films that play like memory, clothes that act like characters. Organisers want visitors to feel seen, and many report leaving both unsettled and held. According to Pieter’s event listing, the weekend includes a public exhibition with a Saturday night performance, so it’s a short run but a concentrated experience. For Angelenos who’ve watched community spaces vanish, this feels urgent and tender at once.

Bernard Brown’s blueprint: memory, movement and survival

Bernard Brown, who grew up in South Central LA and trained with Lula Washington, Dance Theatre of Harlem and the Ailey School, anchors the project in the histories he carries. He describes the Black queer underground as a survival blueprint , places like Catch One and other wellness spaces shaped his sense of belonging. That lineage determines the show’s rhythm: fragments of club life, elegies for friends lost to HIV, and moments of pure joy. If you know Brown’s work with bbmoves, this is a more archival, intimate iteration , a living document that folds choreography into museum-like installation.

The space and the design: inhabiting a time capsule

Pieter transforms its event hall into something you can both look at and move through, with sculptural environments you can sit in or step around. The mix of film, fashion and soundscape makes the exhibit feel like a club night that’s paused mid-track , the music lingers, costumes hang like portraits, and projection maps memory across walls. Pieter’s programme page outlines the structure and timings, and the intimate scale is part of the point: this isn’t a blockbuster show, it’s a shared room for remembrance and celebration. If you plan to go, wear comfortable shoes and leave time to sit and absorb.

Community, funding and why archiving matters now

Sissies was developed over roughly three years and received support through funding channels including a grant noted by the organisers. Pieter’s executive director has been vocal about the urgency of archiving Black queer and Indigenous histories in the face of erasure, and the venue itself has been campaigning to stabilise operations after a sharp drop in funding. Pieter launched an emergency fundraiser to keep staff and programming running; visiting the show is a cultural vote as much as an evening out. In short, attendance and donations both help keep spaces like this alive.

Practical details and tips for visitors

The exhibition runs June 19–21 with varied hours and a Saturday evening performance; tickets and more info are on Pieter’s website. Expect a short run and limited capacity, so book ahead. If you’re visiting for the first time, go early in the day for quieter exploration, or grab a Saturday night ticket if you want the performative arc. Bring a small amount of cash or find Pieter’s donation links online if you want to support the emergency fundraiser. And go ready to feel something , this is made to be both a mirror and a balm.

It's a small, potent weekend that stitches past and present together , and it’s worth making time for.

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