When The Image Speaks Back

Look at an image long enough and it starts to speak back. 

This is what I have found gazing at the many images made of myself — whether on a billboard, magazine cover, or cell phone self-portrait. There is something to be said about the haunting nature of a figure frozen in time coming alive in my mind to communicate to me a gospel that breaks silence. At first glance, one might stand in awe of the beauty the figure emanates; and at second, one might notice the grief, one might notice that the figure is disconsolate. Will you listen when she speaks?

It is this kind of inquiry that inspired the theme of Spectrum Volume 2: When The Image Speaks Back. In this collection of essays, interviews, theory, and criticism, Black trans and non-binary people speak for themselves around a range of topics from fatness, desirability, media visibility and representation to gender theory and safety as it concerns being trans or non-binary in AmeriKKKa.

I am very honored to have guest edited this issue, and also to continue a creative-working relationship with Darren Martin, Bold Culture CEO, and Ahmad Barber, Bold Culture Managing Parter & Chief Creative Officer, that began at Morehouse’s The Maroon Tiger. I am also blessed to share the work and voices of contributors Shaadi Devereaux, Ebony Donnelly, Morticia Goddiva, Dee Harper, eli berry st. john, Jamie Lee, Jonovia Chase, Indya Moore, Texas Isaiah, Da’Shaun L. Harrison, Devin-Norelle, and Tiq Milan. I am blessed to know such a brilliant cadre of Black trans thinkers and cultural workers. This issue would be nothing without their spirited and magical being.

The over 62-page issue features a trove of personal accounts, essays, interviews and criticism by black trans and non-binary people re: experiences in the media, marketing, entertainment and advertising industries.

Met Gala Behavior With Hal Baddie

Not every doll lives on the shelf in a box packaged at the Mattel Factory. Not every doll is white, cisgender, ball-jointed with blue eyes. Some dolls are made through magic, self-creation and manifestation, like Devin Halbal, a 23-year-old TikTok star and writer from the Bronx with "Met Gala"-sized fashion dreams. Here is a doll out of the box and into the world, documenting her beauty and that of the earth through her travels, selfie stick and penguin bag in tow. Here is a doll that everyone loves to play with for her musings on travel, fashion, fine cuisines, geology, archeology, architecture and kindness, but she refuses to be collected for her own sanity.

Read more here!

Nobody's Jucier Than Miss Mojo.

MISS MOJO is no stranger to the stage — she was made for it. An eclectic amalgamation of all the media she’s consumed from a child until now, the glimmer in her eyes, her dazzling presence and the way she commands a room suggests she has always imagined her name in bright city lights. Her newly released EP, Juicy, is a testament to this. Just a few seconds in and you’re immediately transported into a world that strongly holds and lifts up the vision of self she has given birth to: a fat Black femme MC from Brooklyn. Behold!

Read more here!

Pose Star Hailie Sahar Reveals Her Facial Birthmark For the Very First Time

Multihyphenate performer Hailie Sahar is no stranger to the spotlight, but she's been keeping one aspect of herself private for years — until now. In an exclusive interview with Allure, the Pose actress sat down with writer and artist Fatima Jamal to open up about her facial birthmark for the first time.

Read more here!

Fatima Jamal Covers DUST Magazine with Kate Moss and Stefano Pilati

DUST ISSUE 15 – MAMMA ITALIA –
SUMMER / FALL 19
Photography Inez and Vinoodh
Styling Stefano Pilati
Starring: Fatima Jamal, Kate Moss and Stefano Pilati wearing Random Identities

Pre-order issue here: https://dustmagazine.com/product/dust-issue-15mammaitaliacover-5/

Rapper Blu Bone Brings Fatima Jamal 'Into Nebula'

I first heard traces of his Into Nebula EP that day, during my studio visit, as I like to put it, and I knew then, with certainty, that it would touch people in a special way. Into Nebula's got a soul to it that is very Black, how it moves between house, hip-hop, R&B and the blues, sampling Donnie Hathaway, Will Downing, and Kerri Chandler. It's notable to mention that the tape was made while Blu was completing school. He is quite the exemplary student in the halls of academia and to the rigor of art making. The tape is thus a living thesis as it world-builds and leads us towards a future space, talking through topics of race, gender, socioeconomic status and sexuality. The artist has surrendered to the air, and the possibility of spaces unknown, and he's surely riding it, as depicted in the album cover art. What a pleasure to witness him fly and this work two years later.

We bring it all full circle, chatting on the phone how we do about life, excavation and what's ahead. A star is surely born.

Read more here!

National Book Award Finalist Danez Smith Discusses Writing One's Whole Self: Black, Queer, HIV Positiv

Danez Smith doesn't mince words. As a 2017 finalist for the National Book Award for his second book, Don't Call Us Dead, Smith has chosen to paint literary pictures of life as a black, queer, HIV-positive person living in the world. Smith spoke to me about his work, and the following excerpt of that interview is being published on TheBody to celebrate National Poetry Month.

Read more here!

Chae Buttuh: 'Hoeism is Feminism is Futurism'

"Now I suck him down to sleep/ I pray to hoes his soul I keep/ If he should nut before I’m done/ I pray to hoes, there’s another one" opines Chae Buttuh in "Hoeism," the lead track from her debut project with FUTUREHOOD, HoFi: A Collection of Glam Trap & Hoe Hymns.

The Greensboro, North Carolina native is bringing sexy back to hip-hop and in doing so bringing the realest parts of herself to light. The subversive nature of her work is powerful in how she empowers femme identity and sexuality, distancing it from the shame reinforced by society. "Hoeism is Feminism is Futurism," Buttah says. "HoFi is for femmes who have no problem using their sexuality to survive and achieve goals."

Read more of my interview with Chae Buttuh here!

The Thrill and Fear of ‘Hey, Beautiful’

I am a black trans femme, happy to be alive and grateful that a man’s desire for my body has not led to violence, which is all too common for trans women and gender-nonconforming people of color.

And to complicate this even further: Black, fat and gender-deviant are the targets I wear on my back as I move throughout the world. People feel a sense of entitlement toward my body — whether they are random men on the street, goofy teenagers in Brooklyn, police officers, women and children on the subway, or people on the internet.

I often wonder, when is my body my own?

[…]

People are often ashamed that trans and gender-nonconforming bodies produce pleasure for them, and they’re also fearful that others might find out. This is similar to something the poet Claudia Rankine wrote about police violence: “Because white men can’t police their imagination, black people are dying.” Similarly, trans women and gender-nonconforming people of color are dying because people, especially cisgender men and women, cannot police their imaginations.

Read more here!

for single black mothers everywhere raising queer, different, gifted, non-normative children; for penny:

you did not fail me,
single black mother.
i did not fail you,
single black mother. 
together,
we failed expectations
of what a single black mother
raising a queer child should be
when there exist no model.
together, 
we failed normal
notions of family, 
of being. 
together,
we haved learned a new language
of love, grace, and understanding.
together, 
we haved radically mothered
each other. 
together,
we will heal.