GENDER TALENTS is a web-based project by artist Carlos Motta that engages movements and discourses for gender self-determination within trans and intersex communities internationally.
GENDER TALENTS features an online archive of
video portraits of trans and intersex activists who thoughtfully perform gender as a personal, social, and political opportunity rather than as a social condemnation. Based on in-depth interviews conducted in
Colombia, Guatemala, India and the
United States the portraits expose the ways that activists challenge the bio-cultural “foundations” of society and question gender norms from the perspective of sexuality, class, race, ethnicity, and disability.
GENDER TALENTS documents the ways in which society conditions and regulates bodies and how gender activists build politics of resistance and action. From Joggapa and trans communities in India, to sex workers in Colombia and Guatemala, to intersex activists in the United States, these individuals and organizations fight for state recognition, the right to self-determine their identities, self-govern their bodies, access to work, health benefits, and other pressing issues.
GENDER TALENTS is also an ongoing platform for physical
events that reflect on alternative ways to think about the rigid nature of the gender binary as it is enforced in society.
Carlos Motta presenting Gender Talents at the 2013 Creative Capital Retreat
FUNDING
GENDER TALENTS is a project of
Creative Capital.
Makers Muse Award,
Kindle Project
ADDITIONAL FUNDING
Electra and
TATE Modern
CREDITS & ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
A project by
Carlos Motta
Web Design:
Tangrama
Web Programming:
Thom Hines
COLOMBIA
Camera: Alexandra Posada
Video editor: Carlos Motta
Color Correction: Margarida Lucas
Production: Julián Mauricio Grijalba
Transcriptions: Carmen Torres
English translation: Cora Sueldo
Special thanks: Pedro Julio Pardo,
Santamaría Fundación
GUATEMALA
Camera: Byron Mármol and Camila Urrutia
Video editor: Carlos Motta
Production: Franco Arocha
Transcriptions: Camilo Godoy and Carmen Torres
English translation: Cora Sueldo
Color Correction: Margarida Lucas
Special thanks:
19 Bienal de Arte Paiz, Cecilia Fajardo-Hill,
REDMMUTRANS,
Proyectos Ultravioleta and Emiliano Valdés.
INDIA
Camera: Pooja Sharma
Video editor: Jeff Roy
Color Correction: Margarida Lucas
Production: Kiran Tejesh, Sham and Parul Sondh
Transcriptions and English translations: Sharayu Ketan (Marathi), Sandeep Kumar and Divya Sandeep (Kannada), Abira M. (Bengali), Amarjeet Sinha (Odissi) and Karthik Subramaniam (Tamil)
Special thanks: Bandhan, Shubha Chacko, Noah Cowan, Justus Eisfeld, Chitra Ganesh, David van der Leer, Lalitha Parlour, James Robertson,
Sahodari Foundation,
Sangama Foundation/Aneka Trust,
Santi Seva Development Project, Amitava Sarkar, Surabhi Sharma,
Solidarity and Action Against The HIV Infection in India (SAATHI), Kalki Subramaniam and Roy Wadia.
UNITED STATES
Camera: Helki Frantzen, Ben Leon and Carlos Motta
Video editor: Carlos Motta
Script editor: Cristina Motta
Transcriptions: Cassidy Gardner
Special thanks: Jim Bruce, Tiger Howard Devore,
Advocates for Informed Choice, David Cameron Strachan, Sean Saifa Wall and Hida Viloria.
THANKS TO
Creative Capital, Stuart Comer, Camilo Godoy, Fatima Hellberg and Irene Revell, Esben Esther Pirelli Benestad, Sadaf Rassoul Cameron, and Matthias Sperling.
DONATE
Please note that the LGBTI organizations represented in
GENDER TALENTS accept donations that assist them to continue their important work. If you are interested in contributing financially, with equipment, or in any other way, please contact Carlos Motta at mottacarlos(at)yahoo(dot)com, who will gladly act as a link to any organization you'd like to support.