Still from the film “The Anger Project: Celina’s Story,” video documentation by Haas.
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I don’t remember a specific moment from my childhood when I was taught to avoid my anger. There was no sit-down conversation with my parents or a teacher, but I unquestionably got the message early on that feeling—much less expressing—anger was a problem, an indication that I was not in control of myself or that I was being selfish or narrow-minded, and becoming angry was a failure. I learned quickly to cut off, suppress and (most often) deny feelings of anger in what I understood to be socially acceptable behavior: a requisite for a successful, grown-up life and the only way to be loved.
“All of our emotions are here to show us something and tell us something,” Haas says in a phone interview. “I start with anger because it’s the most taboo.” Haas, an interdisciplinary artist who goes by their last name, has been exploring anger through workshops, movement and filmmaking over the last several years. “The Anger Project” emerged from Haas’ realization that much of their creative work—first as a young Chicago-based dancer in the mid-aughts—centered around physical and sexual abuse they had endured and its aftereffects. Conversations about anger inspired Haas and a group of collaborators to bring some old TVs into an industrial area to smash, which Haas found unsatisfying. “I knew what I wanted. I wanted a room full of dishes and to feel myself throw them and hear them shatter.”
In the 2010s, Haas left Chicago for the Southwest. “I lived off the grid, I built tiny houses, I did a lot of stuff out west,” they say. The subject of anger—unaddressed, misunderstood—remained at the fore. “I found myself in spaces where people were using antiquated narratives of anger. It was an interesting feeling that these harmful messages were still out there. It’s harder for marginalized people; depending on how many marginalizations you have on your body, there’s a risk in expressing your anger.”
Haas conceived of a workshop series exploring anger through embodiment, writing and other art exercises. They conducted pilot studies in 2019 and secured funding in 2022 to invite collaborators on the workshops, including Whitney Bradshaw, whose film “OUTCRY: Alchemists of Rage” (2024) documents women telling, singing and screaming painful personal stories in the name of transformation; and Chicago-based Helen Lee, whose work gently and bravely walks the intertwined paths of grief and joy.
“The Anger Project” also encompasses a series of short documentary films. In two, Haas and Lee each share their personal stories through movement and voiceover. In the third, Celina Fierro, a barber, weightlifter and DJ candidly shares her story of coming out in a Jehovah’s Witness community, her path from addiction to sobriety and the importance of community as the camera follows her from her studio to the gym to the club.
Haas is currently in the Chicago area for a residency at Ragdale, and brings “The Anger Project” to Bim Bom Studios this weekend. A multimedia performance will take place Friday. Sunday afternoon Haas and Lee will host a body-based workshop, followed by a screening of “Celina’s Story.” The workshops are open to all, private and not recorded. Haas makes a point of saying that participants may take or discard information provided as they find useful. “If you need to take a nap in the corner, do that. If you need to leave, please do that,” they say. “I don’t have anything to teach anyone. I try to create as safe a space as possible—but there are no safe spaces. I ask people to think about listening to their body, which is the crux of everything I do.”
“The Anger Project” at Bim Bom Studios, 5226 West Belmont, August 21-August 23. Free. RSVP at angerproject.org/events.
