Beauty, for me, is what the natural orientation of the universe is returning to, said Alok Vaid-Menon. If you are the talent and wish to request a profile update or removal from our online directory, please submit a profile request form. Advertisement Coins. Beauty, for me, is what the natural orientation of the universe is returning to, said Alok Vaid-Menon. "Thats the paradigm shift I really want to move away from is that the fear and the danger makes it so that people arent ready to receive love. I think that when it comes to trans people, the narrative right now is so obsessed with us and a collateral damage of existing and having in the world as a trans person, like, woe are them. Normative beauty is insecure. At her funeral I had to dress as the man she wanted me to be. they told Heath. That while we might mechanically be alive, while we might be speaking, we never really do the due diligence to ask, Are these the words of my own that Im speaking? What kind of joy do I want to cultivate? An insistence on radiant beauty, despite all of the vapidity and the vehement violence. Because the thing is, you have revelations about yourself, but youre not ready yet to live those revelations. And at least for now I say no. I began to use color to return to my own color and to see the large swath of colors in the world and realize its not that color is the problem. Its the willful unnoticing. That hatred you feel when you see us having the audacity to live a life without compromise, that hatred is for yourSELF.". But, in my experience, a commitment to honest self-actualization yields unparalleled peace and conviction. we have been taught to fear the very things that have the potential to set us free, Its not just that you internalize the shame; rather, it becomes you. ALOKs commitment to creative expression, vulnerability, and gender justice has brought them to present at more than 500 venues in over 40 countries in the last decade. In this 10-part series, we explore the dynamic path to enlightenment and what it means to wake up. And I realized that pain cant be eternal, because I can still make beauty from it. Mara is often described as representing the inner forces of illusion and ignorance. Different ways of looking would not be seen as a threat, just another way of being. AWAKEN is produced by the Rubin Museum of Art in collaboration with Sound Made Public. To live in America is to already attend a funeral with complete strangers.. The work of soul searching came to me through being an artist. The reason you don't fight for me is because you're not fighting for yourself fully. Acclaimed gender non-conforming writer, performer, and speaker, ALOK, shares their story, and the stories of those who came before them, with an urgency that invites us to step into our power and the power of interdependence. When I play music, its not just that Im playing music, its that Im setting the scene to be alive. Do you know who you are outside of who you have been told you should be? All rights reserved. To live in America is to already attend a funeral To have relationship with our beauty thats our own beauty? I am awake.. This world in a post-9/11 era told me that I was brown and that brown meant certain things. Alok Vaid-Menon and the Art of Standing Out. Vaid-Menon said. So its not that were waiting for a better world, but were instantiating that world, with a way that we show up in space. Claim to Fame: Mx. Music for Awaken was created by Blue Dot Sessions, Podington Bear, Tendinite and Siddhartha Corthus. AAE Named to Inc. Best Workplaces in 2022. Despite constant invalidation, so many transgender people transition because we know there is a quiet and fierce dignity to being able to look at yourself and say "this is who I am.". The fear is not of what could be, or what was, its the fear of what is. But what I like about a wedding dance party is everyone is just being gnarly and foolish and playful. In a viral clip from the podcast "Man Enough," the nonbinary poet and speaker said the gender binary hurts everyone not just trans people. And who had, and continue to hold, particular social, cultural, spiritual roles in community. WebFuneral by Alok Vaid-Menon. And I began to use color to communicate, theres something else going on here. . Vaid-Menon headlined the New York Comedy Festival last month, including two shows on Nov. 13. say: i understand. Is this me? As a visibly gender non-conforming person, I often receive unsolicited advice about my appearance. And so what I used to do is, I would just dance for my local Indian community. But I am seeing the ways that my fingers are phoenixes, becoming touch again. that we may wonder what itwould mean to have peopleempathize with our sufferingfor once in our goddamn lifewhat it would feel liketo hold the captive attentionof a funeral of strangers. they tell us that someone jumped in front of the tracksthat he died upon impactso we just sit there in silence as they remove his remains. Tragedy, death, loss and love are essentials we struggle to accept. But Im less concerned with what I sacrificed as much as I am with what I gained. comedian. The way hair grows back, scabs heal, lips kiss. Do Gametes (Egg/Sperm) Create a Sex Binary? Two people can look similar and be completely different genders. Wayfarer Studios LLC. People have been taught to fear the very things that have the potential to set them free. Big Break: This summer, Mx. Let me buy you a razor?" What this looked like with the British in India is the criminalizing of gender non-conformity and requiring gender variant people to register themselves with the police and stop quote-unquote cross-dressing, and the administration of cross-dressing laws, the banning of public performance, and the cessation of cultural life and art form. Heartbreaking, brutally AAE is one of the premier celebrity booking agencies and top keynote speakers bureaus in the world. Vaid-Menon is self-publishing a poetry book called Your Wound/My Garden. At the beginning of my career I was really concerned with detailing the nature of the wound that I had in the world, Mx. So the goal has always been about elimination of us. WebAlok Vaid-Menon is a keynote speaker and industry expert who speaks on a wide range of topics such as Keynotes, Endowed Lectures & Commencement Addresses, Beyond the School, Vaid-Menon explained to me, was difficult, and they needed an outlet. Awaken is produced by the Rubin Museum of Art in collaboration with Sound Made Public. This writer and performance artist is fighting for a world where all people are able to self-determine their gender. A listing or profile on this website does not imply an agency affiliation or endorsement by the talent. They are the creator of #DeGenderFashion: a movement to degender fashion and beauty industries. Fill out the booking request form or call our office at 1.800.698.2536, and one of our agents will assist you to book Alok Vaid-Menon for your next private or corporate function. In 2017 they released their critically-acclaimed poetry collection Femme In Public, a meditation on anti-trans discrimination. Look around: there are no princesses. Let, This #trans couple will be the first known parents, With anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-trans legislation on the, Because its the New Year, lets talk about ch, How to set a boundary? your salt rubbed on our wounds. And so, what I guess Im trying to cultivate in my life is the kind of courage and conviction and stamina to continue every day to ask myself, Who am I? Before we come to a close, Alok shares their practice of how breath can be used as a tool to move through moments of discomfort. ", "I dont need your help. The poem is no longer just a thing that Im writing, but actually the way that Im living, how I walk down the street, what I see, what I notice, how I speak to other people, how I treat and think of other people, how I engage with one another. To use his own words, he once declared, I am not a man. ", Billy Porter, who stars in "Pose," wrote that he "felt this on SO many levels. And I really want to say that art was that for me. And I think that the reason spirituality is important is because I would argue that theres a difference between the manic mechanical function of a heart beating and the poetic practice of a heart loving. Theres such a natural template for another way to relate to the earth. If youre hungry to continue the conversation, join us on Instagram at @rubinmuseum. When I see things that I love, when I learn new things, when I read new books, when I encounter new ideas, I want to share it with everyone in the world. Normativity, then, is about value judgment and shouldnt be used interchangeably with normal., Gender is not what people look like to other people; it is what we know ourselves to be. Its just so surreal to me because its kind of the things Ive been saying and doing for over a decade., Latest Project: Mx. I was raised Hindu, and I associated religion with organized religion, with a set of parameters and protocols and scriptures that had to be followed explicitly. Because there are things more important to me than that. And I am your host, Laurie Anderson. i want to text the boy above ground waiting for me, ask:have you ever been to a funeral with complete strangers?but instead i look at the woman next to me, the onewho told a dead man to die more considerately andi remember that to live in america is to attenda funeral with complete strangers: how many ghosts does it take for a cemetery to call itself a country? Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices. For more information about our guest and to see images of the artwork in this episode, visit AWAKEN Podcast. Special thanks to Alok Vaid-Menon for sharing their experience with us. If it was universal and just, it would not need to be constantly proven. but instead i will sit here and wait until the train starts up again.i will exit the car without saying goodbye to her.i will walk up the stairs to the boy outside with the smile that makes me feel less lonely. All American Speakers is a "buyers agent" and exclusively represents talent buyers, meeting planners and event professionals, who are looking to secure celebrities and speakers for personal appearances, speaking engagements, corporate entertainment, public relations campaigns, commercials, or endorsements. In the episode, which premiered Monday, Vaid-Menon said the gender binary the idea that there are only two genders rather than a spectrum and the traditional expectations associated with binary gender labels hurt everyone, not just transgender people, and these fixed ideas of what it means to be a man or a woman make it difficult for people to find out who they truly are. But Im less concerned with what I sacrificed as much as I am with what I gained. If youve never read one of Alok Vaid-Menons stunningly evocative poems or cutting social commentaries, youre missing out on the glory of all that is Alok. It depends on each persons experience. Show more. What feminine part of yourself did you have to destroy in order to survive in this world? To which I would ask, why wouldnt you do this? I am proud to be part of a generation of artists who are challenging mainstream beauty and showing the world that niche is the new norm. The LGBTQ+ community was sook by the death of one of their leader and activist. The sight of me walking with my head high -- brown, bearded, and in a bold red lip -- was too much for them. And what I gained was my life back. The Mandala Lab is reserved for family programming from 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM every Sunday. What kind of energy do I want to be a part of? We thought fitting in would give us securitybut is it security when someone else living their life differently unsettles us to our very core?, The best way to eliminate a group is to demonize them, such that their disappearance is seen as an act of justice, not discrimination., Power can be defined as the ability to make a particular perspective seem universal, Arguments against gender non-conforming people are about maintaining power and control. The feeling I get in me is that we have been so structured by the logics of cinema that have made us feel like there has to be this kind of transcendental moment of realization. "And then here we are, 100 years later, trans and gender-nonconforming people are saying, 'Hey everyone, I want to be able to exist, I want to be able to walk outside without being spat on, I want to be able to live and not fear dying.' 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