#FemmeInPublic Is an Assertion of Trans, Femme Identity in Cape Town

#FemmeInPublic is a Cape Town-based movement exploring trans, femme identity in South Africa.

Creative director, Gary Mikey Collins and artist Alok Vaid-Menon teamed up to document a “live fashion protest," which took place amongst a group of femme identifying people in the city. The movement is a show of solidarity between members of the community, who are collectively “disrupt[ing] the heteronormative and colonial gaze with their unwavering celebration of femininity,” reports Afropunk. 

Footage of the demonstration is interspersed with firsthand accounts from members of the group, which includes Vaid-Menon, kwaai diva Umlilo, and many more.

“With the recent advent of the ‘transgender tipping point,' representation of trans people in the media continues to be of people who are binary (identifying as a ‘man’ or a ‘woman,’), white, and conventionally attractive,” said Vaid-Menon.

“My work is about creating more representations of gender non-conforming people of color who have been and continue to be at the front of the movement for gender liberation.”

Watch "Femme in Public" below.