Black Trans Lives Matter Collection

On 27 June 2020, thousands of activists rallied in central London for the Black Trans Lives Matter march. It was a response to the endemic violence faced by Black and Brown trans women internationally.

Until that rally, the Museum of Transology had only ever collected objects that were donated to us by members of the community— we did not source donations. This had been a very deliberate collecting strategy, allowing members of the community to participate on their own terms.

But this was different. It felt too tenuous to live in hope that someone might possibly donate a placard used in the march sometime in the future.

If we didn’t proactively collect them, the material culture could slip through the cracks of time and into the historical abyss. And that has been allowed to happen far too often in the past to QTIBIPoC lives, actions and stories.

A couple of posts on social media, and before we knew it a group of us (previously unknown to each other) met at the rally armed with black bin bags, face masks (it was smack bang in the middle of the Covid lockdowns) and a Polaroid camera.

In total, we saved 95 Black Trans Lives Matter placards.

Inspired by that Black Trans Lives Matter rally, we’ve now collected nearly 2,000 protest signs from 17 locations across the UK and Ireland. They are cultural time capsules; the messages shared en masse secure a place in transcestry for our most pressing political struggles and deepest personal concerns.

Above all, the foundations of the collection evidence the enduring fact that despite our Black trans sisters living at the razor’s edge of oppression, they remain the strongest, bravest, most resilient and culturally dynamic leaders of our community.

We march behind them in awe.

Black trans lives more than matter.

They are the foundations upon which our movement is built, and the living inspiration for our community’s survival, victory and freedom.