“Representation always has an agenda.”

There is a growing body of artistic work regarding intersectional identities being produced by emerging artists of various racial, sexual and gender identities. These investigations into embodiment, perception and representation are being manifested visually and sonically; interestingly, with a shared thread of aesthetic quality. Artists like James Spooner, director of Afro-Punk, VenusX of Ghe20 Goth1k, a queer sound project based in NY, Dr. Kortney Ryan Ziegler, director of Still Black: a portrait of black transmen, and Wu Tsang, a trans artist and filmmaker based in LA, employ music, fashion, and anti-colonialism liberally throughout their work. This effective blend of style and substance represents the cutting edge of community organizing, sociology and pop culture today. For these artists, their work is as much about exploring gender and sexuality as it is about being a person of color in America. These artists are my peers (some, more direct than others) and are a fantastic point of reference for my work. While I have mentioned several artists of influence to me, Wu Tsang is of particular interest and will be the focus of this essay.

Tsang’s work is focused on intersectional identities and spans a variety of mediums, including documentary film, queer nightlife, sound art and community organizing. I was first introduced to Tsang’s work in early 2011, when Original Plumbing Magazine (a zine dedicated to FTM sexuality & culture) published an interview with him about the context of his inspirations. For him, self-representation and context is a performance in and of itself. Gay bars and clubs had long been considered one of the only safe spaces to be or perform all aspects of one’s queer life. However, race and class continue to divide queer communities; it was this recognition that made queer nightlife organizing the nexus of his experiences as a trans person of color and the art that he would begin to produce. “I didn’t see enough INTERSECTIONAL thinking happening around race, gender, and class stuff in a way that was accessible and entertaining.” Tsang said, “That was something WILDNESS taught me: you can be dealing with the HEAVIEST stuff but still in a way that is passionate and fun.” Indeed, there is something profound about inhabiting a misunderstood body, or presentation, in that you are either to be feared or exotified…but rarely equal. That realization is the heaviness that Tsang refers to. My experiences in Boston have been equally frustrating and became my call to arms to create spaces in which I could feel comfortable and understood in all of my complexities as well.

Tsang presented a performance as a part of his artist in residency at the New Museum in New York City this past June. “The Table” is a series of sound experiences based soley on improvisation. The Table session brought together four DJs/producers in a five-hour performance in which they worked to create a unique, energetic and seamless soundscape. Participating DJs included KINGDOM (Ezra Rubin), NGUZUNGUZU (Asma Maroof and Daniel Pineda), and TOTAL FREEDOM (Ashland Mines). On the table, there were a variety of digital instruments at the DJ’s disposal. Hip Hop, R&B, House, and "nu whirled" music samples were performed and remixed live to create an unidentifiable aural exploration.

Tsang’s collaboration with these up and coming DJs is part of an ongoing series of parties/sounds/experiences that began between them in Los Angeles. The sonic qualities of this emerging bass music sound are also defiantly intersectional. Compositions borrow polyrhythmic, global sounds like Kuduro, Moombahton, Bubbling and Reggaeton and are chopped, screwed and juxtaposed with Western House, Pop, RnB, Club, Rave, Footwork and Ghettotech music. The queer/trans artists and DJs in effect “queer” this music by liberally using Ha http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m32Z-htDAok samples which appear in nearly all Vogue/Cunt beats; popularized in black and latino queer ball scenes, a la Paris is Burning. The following link to NU LIFE Mixtape Vol. 1 is a great representation the sounds coming from several emerging queer artists in the bass music scene.

I believe Tsang's refusal to accept the limits people impose on his various identities is successfully manifested through his journeys into the intersection of race, gender, class, visual culture, music, fashion and night life. He is unable to compartmentalize all of these influences, because they are inextricably linked. They are dependent on each other in order to tell a complete story about who he is, and the communities he creates.