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Jun 28, 20234 min read

Celebrating Trans Excellence in the Arts

Updated: Feb 26, 2024

Here's some trans excellence across the arts - from music, to poetry, to film, to painting - that you can carry with you and celebrate all year long. Feel free to mention other trans creators you love in the comments below!




Cavetown, also known as Robin Skinner, writes sensitive, sweet, melodious alt-rock tunes that often infuse the everyday with both whimsy and intensity. His newest album ‘worm food’ just came out this month, with lyrics inspired by everything from his family life to fairytales about kissing frogs. On that record, check out ‘juno,’ a devastating ode to Cavetown’s cat. If you need something angstier, put on ‘Devil Town’ from his self-titled album. It’s an anthem for any kid working towards creating healthier relationships than those they witnessed growing up.


2. Fictional Web Series: Femme Queen Chronicles

The pilot of this Detroit-based comedy series about Black trans women and written and directed by Black trans women has screened at over a dozen film festivals internationally. The series describes its characters as ‘navigating through love, life, trade, and shade’ in the narrative - and you’ll definitely fall in love with them. Catch the pilot episode online at https://www.weareo.tv/presents/femmequeen.


Written by trans playwright and screenwriter Olivia Dufault, this fantasy follows a boy named Paul on an otherworldly coming-of-age journey. Paul has hypertrichosis, a rare condition that causes excessive hair growth. As Paul encounters carnival masters and pirates on his path to self-acceptance, he develops a transformative friendship with Aristiana, a radiantly confident, wise trans mermaid played by trans actress Sophie Giannamore.


The film has been heralded not only for its powerful trans allegories, but also for the way Aristiana beams with self-love and empowerment as an unforgettable trans character. It’s free on YouTube!


torrin a. greathouse's poems explore the intersections of trans identity, femininity, disability, and trauma. Her 2020 debut collection, Wound from the Mouth of a Wound, paints gripping images of resolve, yearning, frustration, tenderness, pain, defiance, and pride that are unforgettably hard-hitting.


Check out the brilliant formal play, lyricism, and sense of embodiedness in"Sonnet to be Printed Across My Chest & Read in a Mirror, Beginning with a Line from Kimiko Hahn" online at the Kenyon Review website.


Flo Brooks’ multimedia paintings incorporate collage, drawing, and even sculptural elements as they explore liminality - states of in-betweenness - and trans identity. His paintings jostle with vibrant color and seemingly incongruous objects as figures inhabit puzzle-like, montaged spaces.


Many of the paintings are informed by Flo’s transition process, including the way he went through a ‘second puberty’ as an adult as his body responded to HRT. Embracing both humor and vulnerability, Flo powerfully illustrates the collisions and overlaps of multiple kinds of knowledge and community that exist as humans commingle and relate to one another in both public and domestic spaces.


6. Music: Star Amerasu


Also known as Ah-Mer-Ah-Su, singer-songwriter Star Amerasu works in both music and video. Her music ranges from catchy, sparkly electro-pop songs like "Heartbreaker" to stripped back tracks like "Shine Bright" and "Light the Way" that center her hauntingly beautiful vocals.


Amerasu takes pride in using her voice to reclaim power for Black trans women, sharing many of her experiences in her lyrics. Some of her heavier topics include survivorship, loss of trans friends, and self-forgiveness, while also exuding playful wit, authenticity, and self-love.


Starring its trans Filipina writer and director Isabel Sandoval, this drama follows Olivia, an undocumented trans live-in caregiver in Brooklyn, as she works to send her earnings back to family in the Philippines and wrestles with anxieties about deportation. While Olivia cares for Olga, an elderly Russian-Jewish woman, she becomes romantically involved with Olga’s son Alex. The film explores the tensions and precarity in Olivia’s life both legally and relationally with empathy and nuance. Available on Netflix!


Ethel Cain is a rising star in the music industry, captivating listeners with her unique blend of ethereal vocals and haunting melodies. Her sensitive and thought-provoking lyrics delve into the complexities of self-discovery, love, and resilience, often exploring deeply introspective and vulnerable themes such as the way that place, faith, trauma, personal growth, and socioeconomic status collide. Drawing from a diverse range of musical influences, her sound incorporates elements of Christian music, Gregorian chants, and alt-rock. Songs like "Crush" and "Unpunishable" showcase her raw vocal and musical talent, evocative storytelling, and the ability to create a deeply emotional connection with her audience.


The Museum of Transgender Hirstory & Art is an ongoing and ever evolving project founded by interdisciplinary artist and museum director Chris E. Vargas that asks questions about "what a visual history of transgender life could and should look like" through exhibitions, performances, graphic design, and residencies.


Check out the exhibition archives for "Trans Hirstory in 99 Objects," which blends fact and fiction as it examines, imaginatively constructs, and makes visible historically significant objects for trans communities.




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