Elliot (he/him) is a queer interdisciplinary artist, performance scholar, and expressive arts therapist. His creative practice investigates the intersections of performance and visual art, with an emphasis in postmodernism and queer theory. While his work is always rooted in the body, Mercer’s multimodal art practice shifts between photography, film, dance, and drag. His projects interweave his creative interest in queer storytelling, artistic practice with multimedia performance scoring, and academic research on questions of legacy and historical knowing. Mercer holds a PhD in Interdisciplinary Theatre and Drama from Northwestern University and an MA in Performance Studies from New York University. He is a graduate of the Tamalpa Institute’s professional training program in expressive arts therapy. As a performer and director, Mercer is an authorized transmitter of choreographer Yvonne Rainer’s dance repertoire and he has staged Anna Halprin’s intermedia theatre works internationally. Mercer is currently an American Council of Learned Societies Emerging Voices Fellow at the University of Chicago. Mercer’s creative research has been supported by a Mellon Foundation Digital Storytelling Grant, MacDowell Fellowship, and the California State Parks. In 2021 his short film “Sensorium” premiered at Frameline San Francisco LGBTQ Film Festival. His co-edited book “Women’s Innovations in Theatre, Dance, and Performance” is forthcoming from Bloomsbury Press.