Saturday, February 1, 2025
2:00 PM EST

Register for the event

Please join us for a panel reflecting on the myriad forms of trans resistance today, organized in conjunction with the exhibition Dueñas de la Noche: Trans Lives and Dreams in 1980s Caracas. This event will feature presentations by Amarilla Diosa, Chiquitita, and Fran Tirado, as well as a conversation moderated by curator Lucas Ondak. It will be followed by a reception and an opportunity to experience the exhibition at ISLAA. 

Dueñas de la Noche showcases the legendary, rarely seen documentary Trans (1982) , which highlights a group of Venezuelan trans women in Caracas as they share their aspirations and demonstrate their resilience against the harsh backdrop of the city. Connecting the stories featured in the exhibition with contemporary visions of trans futures, this panel will bring together leaders of organizations and projects that center trans communities to discuss their work and the current state of trans liberation today. 

The event will take place at ISLAA, located at 142 Franklin Street in Tribeca. Seating is limited, and advance registration is encouraged. The program will be held in English, and a recording will be made available online following the event.


ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Chiquitita is a drag performer, actor, event producer, and visual artist. Since being crowned Miss Bushwig in 2018, she has utilized the stage as a platform to amplify queer performance. Through celebrated tribute-cabaret shows and projects that uplift her community, Chiquitita continues to push the boundaries of what being a drag performer means. she and her work have been profiled in Allure, W magazine, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and Vogue. Chiquitita lives and works in New York City.

Amarilla Diosa is a multidisciplinary artist and performer currently residing in Brooklyn, by way of Atlanta. She is the proud daughter of immigrants and a first-generation Mexican American with Indigenous and colonial ancestry. In her words, "As a trans woman life has offered me unique perspectives, navigating, being perceived as, and exploring my relationship with both sexes and gender nonconformity. My experiences and perspectives, along with a continued effort to decolonize my life, deeply impact my ritual of creating and performing as I reclaim and find new power in my identity and roots."

Lucas Ondak is a transsexual curator and artist from Edmond, Oklahoma, the occupied land of the Comanche, Kickapoo, Kiowa, Osage, and Wichita people. They are committed to working with contemporary art and artists who consider the lives and experiences of the prairie region, particularly work that centers on decolonization and queer liberation. Ondak is a recent graduate from the Bard College Center for Curatorial Studies on the sacred homelands of the Munsee and Muhheaconneok people, where he researched queer art history, contemporary Indigenous art, and twentieth- and twenty-first-century photography.

Fran Tirado is the creator of Doll Invasion, the organizer of Brooklyn Liberation, and the current executive editor at them.us. She is the winner of the Stonewall Vision Award, Brooklyn’s 30 Under 30, and MTV’s Logo Legends Honor. Fran’s work has been featured in Vogue, USA Today, People, TIME, New York, Interview, Elle, the Cut, GQ, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times, and on NBC, BBC, PBS, NPR, The Rachel Maddow Show, Good Morning America, Adweek, AdAge, and AV Club, among others. The New York Times called Fran a "queer champion."