Work in Progress
Trans and Queer Joy as an Act of Resistance, 2024-
As a trans woman sound artist, when I think about joy as an act of resistance, I think about the noise trans and queer people make when we move through the world, unconcerned by the forces that would render us extinct. This noise—what I like to think of as queer noise—is made not just through living, but through thriving, and is an affirmation of our humanity in a world that constantly seeks to demonise and dehumanise us. I began my transition in order to be happy—to finally be free from the unimaginable weight of not feeling like myself—and in doing so I found joy in the smallest of morning rituals: the pull of mascara across eyelash, the scratch of pencil on eyebrow, the smack of lip after applying lipstick, the rustle of dress pulled over the head… I want to take these little noises, these slices of ordinary, day-to-day experience, and frame them, intensify them, make them swell into a jubilant symphony of defiance. For trans and queer people, the noises of living are the noises of celebration: we are everywhere and we will be heard!
Ruby Louise Rose (dance/sound)
Nadja Pärssinen (dance/sound)
Hannu Karjalainen (documentation)
Video documentation showing on Titanik's artelaiset wall throughout July.
for Bob, 2024-
