Virtual Art Gallery in Honor of Trans Day of Remembrance 2023

Apicha Community Health Center’s program Project Connect is excited to be hosting our second annual Trans Day of Remembrance Art Gallery. Last year’s gallery was exclusively virtual, but this year, we are taking it offline. In addition to our virtual gallery, shared on our social media, we will be hosting an in-person presentation of the work at our Queens location in early December. 

What Is Trans Day of Remembrance? 

Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) is a nationally recognized observance that occurs on November 20th of each year. The honorary holiday began in 1999 after the murder of Rita Hester. TDOR was created to acknowledge and commemorate all the countless trans lives lost to hate crimes and related acts of violence. 

While trans voices are celebrated in select areas of media, on the whole, there is still much progress to be made. Trans and gender non-conforming folks are subject to disproportionate amounts of verbal, emotional, physical, and sexual abuse, in addition to targeted harassment. 2021 marked the highest record of reported fatalities. Many of the people killed were people of color (POC), with Black transgender women being a majority of the deaths reported. 

Our Art Gallery 

Project Connect is Apicha’s support team which focuses on serving the LGBTQ+ AAPI youth. Their goal with this annual gallery is to raise awareness about the blood-stained history of the trans community and the harm that continues to plague them. It is also Apicha’s way of being able to give transgender and gender nonconforming artists of color a platform to express themselves and be further represented in media. 

Out of all the submissions received, our team has selected 3 artists to highlight in the gallery. Each artist has been given the opportunity to share their unique voice through a medium of their choosing, with each piece of work illustrating unique skills across mediums. 

Read on to view the work of the selected artists and learn what Trans Day of Remembrance means to each of them. If you would like to see more of an artist’s work or commission them for a piece, please support them via social media. Their information can be found on our Instagram. 

What does TDOR mean to you? 

Kaizer Usher, A Yearning

Photograph 

"TDOR is important because it is another acknowledgment of the trans community and the need for change within our societies. For me it means that although we (the trans community) have increased in terms of visibility and knowledge of our existence, at what extent is that important and only significant, if we are still being murdered at substantial rates. Honoring our ancestors is a ritual that we should all participate in a multitude of formats and to whatever capacity we are capable of, but the fight to protect our community is only ever growing and I will continue to preserve, educate and be an unapologetically black queer trans person for all iterations of my communities because being simply shouldn't equate death."

Ngani Liwayway, November

Painting 

"The empty chairs that represent our siblings we've lost, people and their absence, and what community could look like. It's stillness and contemplation, a prayer, hope in the face of tragedy."

Adeline Kon, Mahjong Night

Digital Art

"It is a reminder of the risks and challenges they face simply for being who they are. It's an opportunity to pay tribute to those who have been victims of hate crimes and discrimination, to bring attention to their stories, and to strive for a world where every individual, regardless of their gender identity, can live without discrimination."