In spite of the day’s rainy weather and gray skies, the Dec. 10 Trans Art Mart brought colorful works by local artists to the Bok Building. During the market, transgender and gender-expansive artists sold everything from pottery and art prints, to upcycled clothing and handmade jewelry.
Trans Art Mart holds multiple markets throughout the year, having moved to the Bok Building after launching with an outdoor fair at Love City Brewing in spring 2022. Although every event is memorable, last winter’s market stands out in the mind of Miller Potoma, one of the lead organizers of the market.
“Last year at the holiday market, I was standing on the balcony in the Bok gym and from there, you can look over the whole gym,” he said. “I was seeing everything come together, the vendors and the attendees, and it was so beautiful. The energy in the room was just palpable.”
The event, Potoma said, is all about connection: connecting people with artists, connecting artists with one another, and uplifting the local trans community. To put on the event, Potoma and a co-organizer — a Black trans artist who wishes to remain anonymous — work with a transgender staff, creating an event by and for members of the local trans community.
“The mission has always been to create safer collaborative and creative spaces that increase visibility for trans people, nonbinary people, and gender-expansive people,” Potoma said. “Cis people are welcome — please show up for your trans community members, your trans siblings, and support their work. But know that this space is for trans joy.”
Artist Ronnie Sterling has tabled at several past Trans Art Mart events, selling brightly-colored jewelry holders and earrings made from childrens’ barrettes. They were eager to return for Sunday’s market.
“This market is always super sweet,” Sterling said. “Everyone’s in a good mood and excited to be here, and curious about the artists’ work.”
Helping curate this winter’s market, Sterling wanted to provide space for artists newer to vending, and to artists working across different mediums. They hoped that highlighting the work of perfume- or candle-makers along with artists offering accessories or home decor would help show attendees the variety of things you can buy when shopping small and local.
For artist Seamone Farries, vending alongside artists with different approaches and styles was creatively invigorating.
“My art is informed by the people I share community with,” she said. “What’s important about being here is that I get to be around so many other trans artists who inspire me in their use of color, in subjects to draw. It feels like it has been a mutual exchange.”
Farries uses vibrant color to create portraits of Black people, scenes of connection — from a romantic embrace, to a haircut. Farries has chosen to focus her art on Black subjects to resist the over-representation of European features and of whiteness in art, as well as in queer and trans spaces.
“The art I create is specifically about Black intimacy, whether that’s romantic or platonic, because Black love in all its forms is political,” she said. “I also love using bright colors, because being part of a community that has dealt with not only so much achievement, but also strife — especially Black trans people — we should represent ourselves in a vibrancy of color. There’s so much diversity in the Black trans experience, so how else would you portray it?”
Similarly, the trans joy that Art Mart organizers strive to cultivate at the event is never separate from the other needs of the trans community.
“Trans Art Mart is inherently political. We’re pro-Palestinian freedom and anti-Zionist,” Potoma said. “We believe in the liberation of all people.”
As part of that belief in liberation, organizers used Sunday’s five-dollar entry fee to pay event staff. Additional proceeds will be redistributed to Housing Reparations Philly, an organization that aims to secure housing for Black Philadelphians in the queer and trans communities.
Other organizing considerations have included choosing a venue that does not require a police presence during the event, and making the event space more accessible, both through venue choice and by requiring COVID-19 safety precautions for everyone at the market. On Sunday, attendees were also able to access free resources like COVID test kits, masks and Narcan, a tool for opioid-overdose reversal.
“This started as a community-based event, but it’s really grown over time to be more specific in supporting our community,” Potoma said. “I want to use my privilege to build up the overall trans community. Trans people are my life. I am trans, my chosen family is trans, my coworkers are predominantly trans. I exist in these subsets of the community that are trans and I want trans creators to be seen, valued and celebrated.”
Attendees spoke on Sunday about that value and visibility. RJ Giunta had not attended past Trans Art Mart events, but was drawn to an event specifically for trans creatives.
“It’s nice for me as an artist to see everyone making their work and putting it out there,” he said. “It’s inspiring to see that there’s a space for this, not just one LGBTQ+ table at an art fair – because usually there’s just one.”
To Ceal, an attendee who declined to give their last name, supporting artists’ work during the market felt like a way of uplifting members of the trans community.
“I want to see people have a sense of peace and validation, and comfort, and safety, and paying for art is part of that,” they said. “I love trans people. I’m grateful to have trans community here in Philly, and every piece of art and story we create is worth investing in.”