SaveArtSpace is proud to bring more art to communities across America with the message Trans People Are Sacred! The Trans People Are Sacred GoFundMe raised over $35,000 which allowed us to provide 14 artists with 14 billboards throughout the United States and also provide each artist with a $1,000 honorarium.

The Trans People Are Sacred selected artists are Jamie Malone, Malaika Ibreck, Sophia Zarders, Gabriella Grimes, MaryAnn George, Kae Goode, Shanisia Person, G., Art Twink, KaliMa Amilak, Ade Cruz, Maroodi, Kah Yangni, and Nyjah Gobert.

The cohort of BIPOC artists was selected by Dakota Camacho, Ryan Young, and Randy Ford.

In recent months, the Transgender community has been faced with numerous calculated attacks from the current administration. Intentionally regressive policy reform has led to increased systematic discrimination against Trans people. This has led to the loss of vital protections in healthcare, housing, homelessness resources, and the cruel and sudden exclusion of Trans people from military service. These are fundamental human rights, all of which are necessary for our survival.

The violent murders of Black Trans Women and Trans Women of Color remain at epidemic levels. In 2020 we have already seen too many brilliant individuals taken from this world by force. The public should be a safe place for Trans and gender non-conforming people to exist freely.

It is our goal to reclaim public space for the Trans community.

Our bodies are holy ground, our magic is potent and true, and our existence makes the world a more loving and equitable place for all. We have always been here and always will be. We demand safety for our community. We demand the right to exist without being targeted. We demand understanding. We will continue to work tirelessly until these demands are met.

Now is the time to bring our light into the world like never before.

In July of 2019, Transgender artist and activist Jonah Welch launched a billboard in Detroit, Michigan, in collaboration with Save Art Space  and Ellen Rutt. The billboard proclaimed "Trans People Are Sacred,” a phrase that was first shared with Jonah by Dakota Camacho years earlier while they were residents of the Audre Lorde Cooperative in Madison, Wisconsin.

The billboard was intended to strengthen representation and inspire hope for Trans individuals in Detroit, but the piece spread like wildfire. The billboard reached a global audience. The words, Trans People Are Sacred, took root, and catalyzed profound healing for individuals and communities the world over. After the success of the initial billboard, Save Art Space reached out to Jonah Welch to create a national-level project for this work. 

Organizer

Participating Organizations

Founded in 2015, SaveArtSpace is a non-profit organization that works to create an urban gallery experience, launching exhibitions that address intersectional themes and foster a progressive message of social change. By placing culture over commercialism, SaveArtSpace aims to empower artists from all walks of life and inspire a new generation of young creatives and activists.

Selected Artists

Location: Como Ave & Kent St N St Paul, MN

On view: November 30 - December 27, 2020

Jamie Malone (they/them) is a 23 year old non-binary creator who graduated from Iowa State University in the summer of 2019 with a BA in Biological/Pre-Medical Illustration. 

Their art is heavily inspired by celestial bodies, music, mysticism, and the natural world. They wish to educate and celebrate with their art, providing pieces to clients that they may cherish for lifetimes. Their primary medium is currently digital illustration, but they are well versed in many forms of traditional materials as well. 

There is a light at the peak of a mountain that shines brighter than any light I’ve seen before. It holds a glow that feels welcoming and warm, much like the gleam of a candle, though it is never extinguished. I see this light within me, and every trans person I’ve ever met. Every glow is unique and exhibits an inherit holiness that is deserving of love, respect, and support. We are the light for a sacred path that is challenging to navigate, but is never walked alone.

Connect with Jamie on Instagram at @artbyjmalone.

Location: 12th Ave & W 125th St, New York, NY

On view: November 30 - December 27, 2020

Multimedia artist Malaika Ibreck likes to believe that all creatures are made up of microscopic splotches of paint, pen ink and pixels (scientists call them atoms). These elements exist inside of everyone, an artist’s role is to externalise them. Bringing art into the world looks a bit like giving birth: messy, sort of beautiful, can be quite gross and horrible. Whilst creating this piece, Malaika had several beautiful meltdowns.

As well as birthing art, Malaika is an activist, using their lived experience as a Black Trans person to inform how they work. To be Trans is to transcend the gender assigned at birth: to go beyond. To be Black is to hold a history rich with celebration, struggle and complexity. Some of Malaika’s recent work includes founding What Can We Do, a collective supporting Black and Brown Trans people in the UK, writing and illustrating the piece “What about Black Trans People”, and participating in writing and illustrating Lush’s Diversity in Discussion collection. Malaika’s work has been exhibited across the UK, China, and the US, featuring in shows at Pinyago International Photography Festival, Store St Gallery, and The Poly.

Malaika’s work honours and celebrates their ancestors, their contemporaries and themself. This piece looks at commemorating Malaika’s Black and Brown Trans siblings. All of the people depicted in this artwork were murdered in 2020: 

Alexa Neulisa Luciano Ruiz, Lexi, Monica Diamond, Penélope Díaz Ramírez, Layla Pelaez Sánchez, Serena Angelique Velázquez Ramos, Nina Pop, Tony McDade, Dominique “Rem’mie” Fells, Riah Milton, Selena Reyes-Hernandez, Brayla Stone, Merci Mack, Bree “Nuk” Black, Shaki Peters, Draya McCarty, Tatiana Hall, Marilyn Cazares, Tiffany Harris, Queasha Hardy, Brian “Egypt” Powers, Aja Raquell Rhone-Spears.

Malaika asks viewers of this piece to remember these people, and to cherish the Black and Brown Trans people who are still alive.

Connect with Malaika on Instagram at @malaika_an9el.

Connect with For the Gworls, a US fundraising collective for Black Trans people at @forthegworls.

Connect with What Can We Do, a UK collective fundraising for Black and Brown Trans people at @whatcan.wedo.

Location: W Burnside Ave & Davidson Ave Bronx, NY

On view: December 7, 2020 - January 3, 2021

Gabriella Grimes is a 25 year-old Black Queer digital artist from the Bronx, NY, now based in Philadelphia, PA. They're a self taught artist with no formal art education. They graduated from Hunter College in 2018 with a Bachelor's degree in Music, double minoring in Sociology and Africana Studies. They began their art career in their last year of college with watercolors and acrylics, and switched over to digital a year later. They were homeless for 7 years, living in a shelter in East Harlem and Long Island City, before securing housing in the Bronx at the end of 2019. In May of 2020, they moved to Philadelphia with their partner to escape housing insecurity in NYC due to COVID.

Under the handle ggggrimes, they create colorful works of art showing Queer People of Color living happy, beautiful, and sexy lives. They bring magical Queer worlds to life in their artwork, showing a reality that every Queer deserves. One of ggggrimes' main goals is allowing young Queer people a space to feel accepted, multifaceted, and empowered.

Connect with Gabriella on Instagram at @ggggrimes.

Location: S San Vicente Blvd & S Cochran Ave Los Angeles, CA & W Olympic Blvd & Alandele Ave Los Angeles, CA

On view: December 7, 2020 - January 3, 2021

Sophia Zarders (she/her and they/them) is an illustrator, comic artist, and pop culture queen from Long Beach, California. Her illustrations have been published in The Nation, Zora, Fiyah Literary Magazine, and by Harper Collins. They’ve created empowering poster designs for Forward Together, the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, and other grassroots organizations. Sophia’s drawings and paintings have been exhibited in Somos Gallery in Berlin, Haight Street Art Center in San Francisco, and Fantagraphics Gallery in Seattle. They have self-published illustrative books and zines about stand up comedians, women & trans filmmakers, youth activists, and problematic pop stars. Currently, Sophia lives with her dog, Bobo, and works as a freelance visual artist.

Connect with Sophia on Instagram at @sophiazarders.

Location: Olive St & N Compton Ave St. Louis, MO

On view: December 21, 2020 - January 17, 2021

MaryAnn George (ma or they/them) is a non-binary trans masc genderfull being with a big, multiplitious spirt. Raised in St. Louis, MO, they are currently based in Brooklyn, NY where they create art, write, and work as a coach.

While MaryAnn works with multiple mediums, they feel a special connection to collage. The malleability, accessibility, and immediacy of digital collage is very appealing to the fluidity of MaryAnn’s practice.

Inspired by tapestries, family trees, embroidery, magical realism, and zine culture they are also drawn to radiant colors, wild patterns, and sacred symbols. Their work is focused on reimagining, invigorating, and revitalizing images as a way to reframe and recenter narratives of power and magick.

As a coach, MaryAnn predominantly works with Queer and Trans folks, supporting them as they explore their own unique stories and expression. Using artmaking, along with other modalities, MaryAnn encourages everyone to celebrate the wonder within and around them.

Connect with MaryAnn on Instagram at @ma_george.

Location: Marietta St NW & Parker St NW Atlanta, GA

On view: December 21, 2020 - January 17, 2021

Kae Goode (They, She) is a writer, multidisciplinary artist, and Trans Leadership coordinator for Spark Reproductive Justice Now!. They are a New Jersey native and a Black TransFemme. Their work varies from digital art, painting, writing. Her art reimagines a world where liberation is at the forefront of conversation and people have the freedom & resources to make autonomous decisions about their lives and bodies

Connect with Kae on Instagram at @goodegawd.

Location: Hemphill Ave NW & Curran St NW Atlanta, GA 

On view: December 21, 2020 - January 17, 2021

I am a multimedia artist, educated in Illustration and Painting, and practiced in Music, Film, and Performance, whatever it is done as D.I.Y. as I am capable. Through all of these medium my work is centred in sexuality including gender and it’s expression and the limitlessness and ever growing concept and what’s that means to art therefore beauty and inevitably humanity.

If all art is, is an expression of the artists consciousness and therein what they find beautiful in the broadest meaning of the word, being a non-binary and queer person gives me the most comprehensive conception of beauty beyond what gender and any binary can contain. So with this billboard I just want to give space to different kind of trans people and allow others to see the beauty I do in these sacred bodies.

Connect with Shanisia on Instagram at @shanisiaperson

Location: Martin Luther King Jr Way & 19th St Oakland, CA

On view: December 28, 2020 - January 24, 2021

G is a Black, queer and trans non-binary artist, co-founder of Beyondeep Productions. Utilizing many different art mediums including film, G creates magical spaces reflecting their identity and pushing boundaries. All of G's work promoting empowering Black images, is so vital in order to destigmatize and spread positive vibes. G envisioned and titled their billboard "Give Us Our Flowers" because we deserve love, respect, and peace while we are living life. We deserve to thrive!

Please stay tuned to BEYONDEEP, we have lots of productions in the works!

Connect with G on Instagram at @Beyondeep.

Location: Nord Ave & Stewart Ave Chico, CA

On view: January 5 - February 1, 2021

Art Twink grew up drawing critters they thought up to comfort themselves and their friends, and that mission continues to this very day. For Art Twink, art is for creating community and safety in a world that offers very little of either. After 6 years of working in graphic apparel design for brands like Disney, Marvel, Nintendo, and Star Wars, they are well versed in the technical and commercial world of visual art. However, at heart Art Twink is a storyteller. They carry on the tradition of telling stories that inspire, validate, and comfort people and creatures in hard times as a trans artist of color. Along side their visual art they also illustrate children's books, the latest being My Rainbow.

Connect with Art Twink on Instagram at @art_twink.

Location: Church Ave & Nostrand Ave, Brooklyn, NY

On view: February 8 - March 7, 2021

KaliMa Amilak is an Afro-Caribbean photographer, business owner, herbalist, and multidisciplinary artist native from Brooklyn, New York. In their experience as a photographer, they have sold and exhibited artwork in various galleries in Brooklyn and the Bay Area, such as BatHaus Gallery, SOMArts, The San Francisco Human Right Commission Center, Ashara Ekundayo Gallery, and The Richmond Arts Center. They have also been published in online publications such as AFROPUNK. Through their intentions in art, they are devoted to self-expression and celebration for black queer people sharing their life experiences as a means of healing through empowerment.

Connect with KaliMa on Instagram at @kalimaamilak.

Location: Lomas Blvd NE & Cardenas Dr NE, Albuquerque, NM

On view: February 15 - March 14, 2021

Connect with Ade on Instagram at @adelinazcruzart.

Location: Sinclair Rd & Strimple Ave Columbus, OH 

On view: March 1 - March 28, 2021

I’m Maroodi a Black/Somali Muslim Trans Visual Artist based in Chicago, Illinois. I grew up in Columbus, Ohio but being who I am. Ohio never really felt like home I always knew I was gonna leave one day. Even though I was loved by many people in my community. I knew it would go away the moment they found out about the real me. Back in 2019 was when I let them know who I really was. Being outed by a family member was the reason why I took ownership of my story. My family being the shock of me being Somali and queer was the reason I did my 1st photoshoot. Hearing how are you Somali and gay was getting very annoying. The shoot brought both of the worlds together. In the photo series, I made a garment that is worn by men into a big puffy skirt. The location was in front of a well known Somali mall in Columbus, Ohio. The photos went viral even though it brought so much hate my way. It births the artist I was destined to be and introduce so many Somali queers that I called family now. It’s wild that I am saying this but having Somali queers come out to me is so normal at this point. My art and visibility are for them it’s to give us the representation we deserve. Queer Somali existences have always been pushed away to the point where it like we haven’t existed. We have always been here and I know that from the protection my queer Somali ancestors have over me.

Muslim Trans People are Sacred

I walked into her room and gently closed the door behind me. This is where I felt most sacred. I knew that this was a forbidden space but I never let fear grab hold of me. I rummaged through her closet to find the brightest dress adorned in the finest sequins that matched my sacredness. This is where I felt most sacred. The blue see-through gown that draped over my curves represented my ocean like strength. The billowing white silk skirt layered beneath held the purity I had within. The fuchsia stained hijab defined the peace I felt when I wore her clothes. Out of the darkness, I felt his eyes on me as he stood in the corner dressed in white fearfully watching. The white he wore represented the fears I once had within, he was transphobia. With the burning fire in my soul and the boldness in my eyes, I killed the transphobia. This is where I felt most sacred.

Connect with Maroodi on Instagram at @Maroodi_.

Location: S Broad St & Carpenter St, Philadelphia, PA

On view: May 10 - June 6, 2021

Kah Yangni is a genderfluid, Black illustrator living in Philadelphia, PA. They make heartfelt art about justice, queerness, and joy.

Their art has been shared by people like Indya Moore of the television show Pose, and they’ve worked with the New York Times, Vice Media, Bust Magazine, Chronicle Books, and Teen Vogue, as well as with causes Rock the Vote, the National Women's Law Center, and the Movement for Black Lives. They’ve been mentioned in Bustle, Hyperallergic, and Them, and their poster work is in the permanent collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Connect with Kah on Instagram at @kahyangni.

Location: SE Hawthorne Blvd & SE 19th Ave, Portland, OR

On view: July 5 - August 1, 2021

In 2020 I graduated from Oregon State University with a Bachelor’s Degree studying Graphic Design & Fine Arts. I have also been pursuing photography since I was in high school and just started my career as a graphic designer, while doing personal photography projects on the side. I always knew I wanted to make a big impact with my art; whether that be through my design, photography or other art forms. When SAS reached out and congratulated me on being one of the selected artists to represent the Trans People Are Sacred campaign, I was so honored to have an opportunity to showcase such a beautiful community. I immediately wanted to showcase actual human bodies and give folks I know and love space to flourish in our city. Being able to see trans bodies represented in the real world and on a billboard for so many people to experience is such a great feeling. I wish I could have seen a campaign like this when I started my transition about 4 years ago, because it would have been so inspiring to see folks within my community and to know that I wasn’t the outlier of my family/friends or anyone around me for that matter. I’m really glad to be that moment of inspiration to someone who will pass by this billboard and think “wow, I can do it if they did”. 

I am constantly inspired by those who live their truth, who experiment/are fluid and open, who are unapologetically themselves and comfortable in their own bodies. This is what I want viewers and folks that are a part of the trans community to get out of this piece. We are here, we are confident, we are beautiful, we are divine, and we are sacred.

With love,

Nyjah Gobert (he/him)

Connect with Nyjah on Instagram at @gobert.nyj.