Trans Resistance is Beautiful

June 6, 2018
SF LGBT Center and Qcc present
Trans Resistance is Beautiful
LGBT, 6:30 – 8:30 PM
Exhibit runs through July 27
FREE

Prints of original art from the frontlines of trans liberation movements. Artists include Micah Bazant, Chucha Marquez, Ethan X Parker, Art Twink, Amir Khadar, Rommy Sobrado-Torrico, Mojuicy, Edxie Betts, and more.

VISUAL ART

Trans and nonbinary people have always existed, and we have always used our creativity, beauty, and power to survive. In the lineage of our trancestors, this exhibit is an offering of love and fuel for our struggle against white supremacy and transmisogyny.

All the work in this show is created by trans and nonbinary artists. It is part of national projects

like the Trans Day of Resilience art project (www.tdor.co) and the Trans Life + Liberation series (http://translifeandliberation.tumblr.com). It has amplified our struggles, in the streets and online, as we have grieved the murders of our trans sisters, fought to free our siblings from incarceration, and reclaimed events like Pride. It was born from our need to honor trans and nonbinary people of color in life, not just in memoriam. Or as the group BreakOUT! says, “Give us our roses while we’re still here!”

We are thirsty to see ourselves and each other as powerful, whole beings. But trans liberation requires more than visibility. In a world where trans women and femmes of color are often hyper-visible and experiencing an ongoing crisis of violence, visibility is not enough.

Our visibility must be grounded in consent and self-determination. It must benefit our communities and serve the systemic redistribution of resources and power.

This art is deeply rooted in this kind of love, self-determination, and organizing to build power. It emerged through relationships of love and solidarity between artists and organizers on the frontlines of our movements for racial and trans justice. At every step, we valued and uplifted the visions and labor of trans people of color. This exhibit is different not just in who it depicts, but in the radically different processes of how it was made.

We dream beyond acceptance into fundamentally oppressive systems. We dream of trans liberation—of a world that treasures trans and nonbinary people of color. Art is not just an accessory to liberation struggles, it is crucial to imagining and building the world we need. Trans resistance and liberation is beautiful.

BIOGRAPHIES

Amir Khadar is a nonbinary, West African, multidisciplinary artist and organizer. Through their spoken word and visual art practice, Amir is able to attack issues stemming from white supremacy while celebrating intersectionality and Black beauty. Through art, they are able to practice authentic self-expression and create the images of the African diaspora that are shunned by the media. Amir is currently a first-year student at the Maryland Institute College of Art studying for their B.F.A in Animation and Humanistic studies.
Instagram: @amir.khadar, Website: redbubble.com/people/AmirKhadar

Art Twink/Rajesh Jyoti Saraswati is a genderqueer, mixed Bangladeshi/white and was once named an “inspiring queer fashionista” by a blog they’d never heard of. They make comics about depression and lingering feels. They use their art to create connections between QTPOC and to foster self – and community – love in the face of capitalism, white supremacy and patriarchy.

Instagram: @art_twink, Website: society6.com/arttwinkart

Chucha Marquez is a Queer, Chicanx print maker, digital illustrator, and social media whiz. They were born and raised in the South Bay and are currently based out of Oakland, California. Chucha is an artist whose artwork is inspired by current and historical struggles for social justice and liberation, especially within the context of gender and sexuality, immigration, feminism, current events, and solidarity work. Chucha has a degree in Psychology and Chicanx Studies from UC Davis, with a minor in Art Studio.
Instagram: @la_chucha, Website: chucha.bigcartel.com

Edxie Betts is a Black Blackfoot Filipina/Trans/Queer liberation artist and autonomous organizer. Their work is centered around advocating for non-white queer and trans communities, and bringing support and attention to political prisoners and restorative-mediation work. They emphasize art as cultural production for the sake of inspiring healing, political education, counter narrative, oppositional alternatives, cultivating resistance through self-organizing and direct action.

Instagram: @bettsurevolt, Website: society6.com/edxibae

Ethan X Parker is a self-taught illustrator and comic artist living and working in Austin, TX. They’ve worked hand-in-hand with Strong Families, Black Lives Matter, and Culture Strike to create visual noise and draw attention to relevant social topics affecting the intersections of Black womanhood in the queer and trans communities, and the experiences of traversing the world in a queer, Black trans body. Ethan is a geeky guy who loves to read comics, play video games and kick flip for social justice. They enjoy long walks on the beach, piña coladas and clichés.

Instagram: @3thanxp, Website: ethanxparker.myportfolio.com

Micah Bazant is a trans nonbinary artist who works with social justice movements to reimagine the world. They create art inspired by struggles to decolonize ourselves from white supremacy, patriarchy, ableism, and the gender binary.

Instagram: @micahbazant, Website: micahbazant.com

Mojuicy/Mohammed Fayaz is an illustrator and one of the organizers of Papi Juice. Born and raised in New York City, Mohammed’s illustrations are intent on documenting his community of queer and trans people of color. With work that spans digital and mixed media, his illustrations lend a eye into a world traditionally left out of mainstream media.

Instagram: @brohammed, Website: mohammedfayaz.com

Rommy Sobrado-Torrico is a queer, undocumented, non-binary ‘artivist’ born in Iquique, Chile, raised in Naples, Florida.

Instagram: @rommyyy123, Website: www.rommytorrico.com