today they stared. today they laughed. today they photographed. today they tried their best to make me go inside. today they pointed. today they jeered. today they whispered. today they tried their best to make me go inside. today they repressed. today they projected. today they lied. today they tried their best to make me go outside. but today i went. but today i strut. but today i held my head high. but today i remembered. but today I forgave. but today i loved. but today i went outside. .
the policing of gender non-conformity is part of a larger project of policing creative expression. taking the “art” and cordoning it off in galleries, on runways and stages. making the art finite, temporary, inaccessible. we live in a world that dispossesses us of our creativity because if we were in touch with our self- expression we might imagine something else than the status quo, we might dream beyond the parameters of the now, we might remember ways of loving & living in harmony. art is a mode of living, not just something we do. it is who we are. and so i adorn this body. and so i come to you live and in color — always in color — because i want to give us permission. not just to express, but to be. not just to express, but to be.
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