They/Them
For one night only at Nuit Blanche YXE
Trans cARe billboards
An augmented reality scavenger hunt for digital 3D billboards
that radiate joyful, trans-affirming messages
For one night only during Nuit Blanche Saskatoon
September 28, 2024
7 p.m. - midnight






Click images to enlarge
Artist Statement
In 2023, the City of Markham canceled artist Julian Yi-Zhong Hou's public artwork, Bicycle, because it depicted a gender-nonconforming person and their drag persona. A spokesperson for the city told CBC that publicly displayed art must be “inclusive and sensitive to all." And yet, aside from Pride Week, trans people live in cities that almost never “speak” to us as residents.
What might the city look like if trans communities used digital media to speak to one another in everyday urban spaces? Could playful trans imagery and trans-positive messaging in public spaces be affirming and boost morale during a time of widespread trans antagonism?
In Trans Care (2020), Hil Malatino advocates for an ethics of care in the everyday. Malatino experiences a moment of trans care when he comes upon trans artist Jonah Welch’s billboard in Detroit in 2019, which depicts oblong shapes, lines, and soft colours with the text, "Trans People Are Sacred." Reflecting on this billboard, Malatino writes, “…it’s a real relief to be hailed by a beautiful blob” (p. 26). Malatino continues: "Anonymous, named but not represented, and hailed in the complexity of my need—to be seen and unseen simultaneously, to be comforted and also left alone, to, for once, feel held and witnessed within a public space without being made subject to other people’s witness of me" (p. 29). Malatino describes the necessity for cities to address trans residents without visually representing trans people for cis audiences.
Trans cARe is an augmented reality scavenger hunt for digital 3D billboards that radiate joyful, trans-affirming messages. Visit the artist during Nuit Blanche Saskatoon at 3rd Ave S - Across from Meewasin Valley Authority.
