This year, join us in celebrating trans families. The Tennessee Family as Freedom Project amplifies the way Black trans people practice freedom through family-making.
Artist Spotlight: Kah Yangni
Kah Yangni (she/they) is an illustrator living in Philadelphia, PA. They make hyper vibrant art about justice, queerness, and joy- using cut up paper, drawings, paint, and Photoshop to show a world where we are free. Kah’s art can be found on billboards, one 2,250 square foot mural, and on bedroom walls from West Philly to Iceland. Kah illustrated “Not He or She, I’m Me” by A.M. Wild, a 2024 Stonewall Book Award Honor Book. Kah also illustrated “The Making of Butterflies” by Zora Neale Hurston and Ibram X. Kendi. Her art has been covered by NBC News, Ebony Magazine, Mic, and them, and her poster work is in the permanent collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Free Library of Philadelphia.
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Honoring Trans Families
Trans love heals and liberates generations. Earlier this year we collected stories to celebrate the mamas who nurture and protect trans youth and defend the bodily autonomy of the children they love.
Poetry
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The future is whatever we name ourselves. Watch our words bloom into worlds.
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About
Founded with the Audre Lorde Project in 2014, the Trans Day of Resilience art project is an annual love offering to trans people of color everywhere. Led by Forward Together, its current name and spirit emerged from a 2015 call from New Orleans trans justice organization BreakOUT! to celebrate the resilience of our trans family.
November 20 marks Trans Day of Remembrance, an annual memorial for our murdered kin. The day gives us space to grieve the siblings—overwhelmingly Black trans women and femmes—who were pushed out of this world too soon.
Our rebellious mourning recommits us to the living. We refuse to forget or forfeit our power, even in the face of epidemic violence. We remember: we are pure possibility. Our freedom dreams could set the whole world free.
With art as our portal, we imagine and femifest the world we deserve. May this project, for and by trans people of color, help us see ourselves safe and cherished, rested and healed, fully alive. Let’s dream and shape an irresistible future together.
For press inquiries, please contact ChaKiara Tucker at chakiara@forwardtogether.org.
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TERMS OF USE: This art is free and available for you to use to spread a message of social justice. We welcome you to reproduce it and share it in your community. Please do not alter the image in any way and or offer these images for sale. Do not use or reprint the image in a publication or for commercial or institutional purposes without the permission of Forward Together. If you share the art on social media please tag Forward Together (@fwdtogether on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook).
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License
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Protecting Trans People is Not Up for Debate
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. By downloading this art you agree the terms of this license.Family Is Yours to Define
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. By downloading this art you agree the terms of this license.Trans Love Heals Generations
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. By downloading this art you agree the terms of this license.About the Artist:
cozcon is a multidisciplinary artist dedicated to broadening the visual lexicons of black, femme and queer life through work that claims the riches locked up in the exclusionary hubs of contemporary art, design and fashion to reinvest them into imagery that reflects the lived experiences of the marginalized and historically excluded.
@cozcon | cozcon.threadless.com
Trans Love Makes Our Gardens Grow
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. By downloading this art you agree the terms of this license.About the Artist:
cozcon is a multidisciplinary artist dedicated to broadening the visual lexicons of black, femme and queer life through work that claims the riches locked up in the exclusionary hubs of contemporary art, design and fashion to reinvest them into imagery that reflects the lived experiences of the marginalized and historically excluded.
@cozcon | cozcon.threadless.com
Trans Love Is Divine & Liberating
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. By downloading this art you agree the terms of this license.About the Artist:
cozcon is a multidisciplinary artist dedicated to broadening the visual lexicons of black, femme and queer life through work that claims the riches locked up in the exclusionary hubs of contemporary art, design and fashion to reinvest them into imagery that reflects the lived experiences of the marginalized and historically excluded.
@cozcon | cozcon.threadless.com
Trans People Exist In The Future
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. By downloading this art you agree the terms of this license.About the Artist:
A 36-page zine of art and poetry celebrating trans freedom! This original collection includes ten poems, selected art from seven years of the Trans Day of Resilience art project, and prompts to fuel your own dreaming.
We Rise Like the Sun
“Growing up Black and trans, I sought assurance that I could be myself while navigating through a world that told me otherwise. I've grown attached to the idea of depicting people and animals like forces of nature that stand for the liberation of marginalized communities, rising up in the face of adversity. I hope for others to find solace in my work as a reminder that they are not alone.” — Colin Laurel
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. By downloading this art you agree the terms of this license.About the Artist:
Colin Laurel is a Black trans illustrator working in editorial, licensing, posters, and social justice. Throughout his work, he explores identity, culture, mental health and advocates for self-help through making art. Colin hopes that his practice will inspire others to use creative solutions as a means for therapy and liberation. He has worked with Adobe, the New York Times, Icebreaker, Media Res Studio, UC Berkeley, Poetry Foundation, and organizations such as Forward Together, Trans Justice Funding Project, and the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights. He lives in Portland and adores his cat.
@folklaurel | colinlaurel.com
Indulgence as Self Love
“Our people often need to focus on making it through the obstacles each day lays in front of them, focusing on surviving in a world not built for those who defy gender roles. But here we are… existing as beautiful and powerful trans and nonbinary people. Let us indulge and let us find pleasure. We deserve it all.” —Amir Khadar
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. By downloading this art you agree the terms of this license.About the Artist:
Amir Khadar (They/Them) is a Sierra Leonean-American artist, designer, and educator primarily working through poetry, fiber art, and digital art. These mediums guide their conceptual explorations into gender theory, Black diasporic ecologies, aesthetic politics, and ancestral practices.
@amir.khadar | amirkhadar.com
We Survive So We Can Thrive
“Far too often QTBIPOC lose sight of why we strive to survive. Since survival takes up so much of our physical and mental energy, it's easy to forget why we do it in the first place. We don't survive for the sake of survival. On the contrary, we survive in order to prosper as individuals, as a community, and as an idea. We survive today to thrive tomorrow. Not only will we thrive, so will those who come after. So here is to not forgetting why it's worth it.” —Art Twink
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. By downloading this art you agree the terms of this license.About the Artist:
Art Twink grew up drawing critters they thought up to comfort themselves and their friends, and that mission continues to this very day. Through themes of queer pride, disability justice & decolonization they work to create worlds where marginalized folks can feel celebrated.
@art_twink | arttwink.com
Trans People Exist In The Future
“I like making art that has starry skies because I associate starscapes with being extremely old but also with the future and everything undiscovered that we don't yet know. I wanted this poster to be a reminder of the way that trans people are like that. No matter what happens, we're part of nature, we've been here and we'll continue to be here.” —Kah Yangni
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. By downloading this art you agree the terms of this license.About the Artist:
Kah Yangni is a self-taught illustrator and muralist living in Philadelphia, PA. They make heartfelt art about justice, queerness, and joy. Their clients include the New York Times, Vice, BUST Magazine, the Movement for Black Lives, Rock the Vote, the National Women’s Law Center, the Transgender Law Center, and others. They’ve presented their work for the Poster House in NYC and the RISD Museum, and their work has been featured in Them, Bustle, Hyperallergic, and Colorlines.
@kahyangni | kahyangni.com
Trans People Heal the Land
“My goal while creating this piece was to express the complexity of our current struggles. The turmoil of our society reverberates and expresses itself as simultaneous turmoil in our environment. Literally and figuratively aflame. But as a response to that I wanted to focus not only on the act of resistance, or resilience, but on all of the stages that lead up to it. On the overflowing tears, the leaning on another’s shoulders and the deep breath before the first step. I created this piece to honor exhaustion. This year has been more than exhausting for so many of us and so many of us have been asked to give so much. I wanted to make it clear that even though trans people have been decades ahead of the curve in regards to abolition, mutual aid, radical care, environmental consciousness, and community organizing, that we are revolutionary even at our empty. Our existence is essential however that may show up and healing happens at every step along the way.” —Glori Tuitt
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. By downloading this art you agree the terms of this license.About the Artist:
Glori Tuitt is a Painter and Illustrator based in the Bronx, New York. A graduate from Purchase College with her B.F.A in Painting + Drawing her work focuses on the intersections of race, religion and pop culture in relation to the cultivation of identity. She is dedicated to the centering of Black trans bodies in the arts, hoping that her practice will return rightful ownership of the trans form. Ultimately seeking to both deify and humanize the Black trans experience.
@eunuchdoll | glorituitt.com
I am a New Spirit Born from a Change in Melody
I am convinced it can only be divine orchestration that brought Mia Willis (they/them) and I together as collaborators for Forward Together’s Trans Day of Resilience project. An experience of our own design, as Mia and I both recognize our holiness in our ability to shape ourselves and our realities.
As trans/nonbinary people, we create ourselves along with our art and poetry. We are the divine. Our love of mythology, passion for poetry and imagery, and a desire to push the boundaries of what it means to exist as a resilient trans/nonbinary person made us want to craft new mythologies for the black, trans experience. Rewrite our cosmic birth.
We did this together through sharing resources, and then poetry, which I used to create the imagery for this project. Though we aspire to do more in-depth narrative works in the future, what we created was deeply personal. We were influenced by the other, but also inspired by ourselves and our own tools of resilience through shapeshifting forms, manipulation of time, and collectivity in our voice.
For the execution of the final works, I allowed myself to imagine and receive visions of the trans/nonbinary deities that wanted to be present in these pieces. I gave myself some boundaries as I can get joyfully lost in the realm of possibilities. I wanted to represent a transfeminine elder, a transmasculine parent, a nonbinary child who transcends even the boundries of humankind, and a new god reflected in a transwoman who has not yet transcended her human form.
As I sketched and played, everything became luscious. The roundness of bodies, the swirling of bark, the curling of tentacles, and the softness of sunsets and leaves all create a world of trans/nonbinary resilience that is warm, expansive, and welcoming to all forms of divinity in all beings. I truly believe we cannot carry on if we do not prioritize our rest, our joy, and our unconditional love for ourselves.
The lines that I used from Mia’s poetry are “I am a completely new spirit born from a change in melody,” and “I float in a flesh that define taxonomy, erases binaries.” This reality is a melody, and we are clear notes that redirect the very flow of the song like water. This is the foundational image for my concept. Melody as a biodiverse ecosystem, one we will thrive in. This ecosystem is the place of our birth and its lushness gives us room to birth new forms. Now born, we declare who we are. We are boundless and floating. Like a newly emerged dragonfly, we delight in our existence, the gentleness of plants, and the glisten of our reflection in the water’s surface.
My hope is that people see themselves in these pieces, both in my ink that flows and grows, and in my cut paper piece that further highlights the intricacies of our beauty. Strength in our delicate tenderness. That’s the resilience I crave. One that allows us to be soft and supple and sprouting. May you see yourself and know your divinity. Know you are loved.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. By downloading this art you agree the terms of this license.About the Artist:
Malachi Lily is a Philly-based, shapeshifting, genderfluid, black poet, artist, curator, and moth. They connect to the collective unconscious via energy work, Active Imagination, mysticism, myth, magick, folklore, and fairy tales. This channeling often takes the form of poetry, illustration, curation, and the aesthetic arts. Malachi is a liminal being of race, gender, artistic practice, and existence reclaiming the spiritual body of black and brown people. Their work offers methods to break these individual barriers and reveals the symbols, archetypes, emotions, and lessons that exist in everyone as a collective consciousness to support in transformation and the remembrance of who we are.
@theholyhawkmoth
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Trans People Exist in the Future
Art and poetry celebrating trans resilience
Trans people of color deserve a world of safety, support and love. Imagine this world through our collection of original art and poetry. Free to download, the zine includes ten poems, selected art from seven years of the Trans Day of Resilience art project, and prompts to fuel your own dreaming.