#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.

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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.