Tourmaline, a New York-based artist and activist, spent the last twenty years exploring the life of Marsha P. Johnson, a pivotal figure in the LGBTQ+ community. Through projects like the short film "Happy Birthday, Marsha!" and her recent biography, "Marsha: The Joy and Defiance of Marsha P. Johnson," Tourmaline strives to illuminate Johnson's legacy. As LGBTQ+ rights face increasing challenges, this work serves as a powerful reminder of the possibilities for change, resilience, and personal empowerment, lessons embodied in Johnson's life.
Before I was an artist, I was organizing around health care, welfare, housing, police, and prisons. I started [asking] so many of these questions of 'Who are people who came before me who made campaigns that changed the world?' And Marsha always was the answer.
Conditions don't get to determine how we feel about ourselves, and they certainly don't get to determine what we know to be possible. I think Marsha's story consistently showed that she was using harsh conditions and the challenges that she faced in her daily life as launching pads to dream beyond them.
Collection
[
|
...
]