Looking into the eye of the process Intercultural art activism trans*/lations and intersex/tions in the Global South

abstract

Collaborative artistic-activist (or artivism) practices can bring strong articulations of lived experiences regarding processes of oppression and empowerment in contemporary societies, from a situated perspective, leading to the building of effective strategies for collective organised action towards social change and justice (Sholette, 2011; Love and Mattern, 2014). Through analysing the collaborative works of trans* and intersex activists for human rights in the Global South with artist for social justice Gabrielle Le Roux, this Article will explore effective/affective horizontal engagements through artivism working methods. These collaborative projects gravitate toward an exchange of gazes. As Le Roux recounts, it is about “looking into the eye” of people as a dispositive to recognise them as the main teachers and experts of their lived experiences. This Article will also enquire if such situated interactions may lead towards processes of social awareness, intercultural dialogue and cultural ex/change. It will also analyse the effects of these works in challenging dominant narratives as well as mainstream stereotyped media representations of trans* and intersex populations from the Global South.

keywords:

• art activism
• trans*
• intersex
• Global South
• social justice

Notes

1. In this document I use the term trans* (with an asterisk), which refers to a wide variety of non-traditional cisgender and/or cissexual identities. The asterisk is used, as in computer language, as a ‘wildcard’ feature, and expresses diversity, inclusivity as well as intersectionality. On the other hand, I refer to individuals following their own self-description in regards to their gender identities.

2. Available at: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2512E7325A011C0D. This project had the support of Amnesty International Turkey and the Consulate General of the Netherlands.

3. Available at: http://www.blacklooks.org/2010/02/proudly-african-transgender/ and http://www.blacklooks.org/2010/03/proudly-african-transgender-self-portraits-in-writing/

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Abeyamí Ortega

ABEYAMÍ ORTEGA is a Mexican Ethnologist and Mesoamerican Studies scholar. Her teaching and research encompass visual culture, the politics of representation, intercultural processes, heritage, citizenship, ethnopolitics and gender and race relations. She is a professor and member of the Academic Committee Board of the Cultural Diversity Program of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Her publications include the participation in the books Compartir el patrimonio cultural inmaterial: narrativas y representaciones (Sharing intangible heritage: narratives and representations, CONACULTA/ UNAM/ INAH, 2011), Retos culturales de México frente a la globalización (Cultural challenges of Mexico in globalisation, Porrúa, 2007), and Antropología de las fronteras (Anthropology of frontiers, COLEF, 2006), among others. Email: [email protected]