“Rage colours me as it presses into the pores of my skin, soaking in until it becomes the blood that courses through my beating heart. It is rage bred by the necessity of existing in external circumstances that work against my survival.” These words, taken from a 1994 essay by trans historian Susan Stryker, serve as the foundational text for a new exhibition opening at London’s Chats Palace. Curated by Lea Leaff Pond and Sunny Hayward, Trans Rage is a community-led artistic response to the British establishment’s ongoing attacks on trans rights.
Pond and Hayward, who are both completing MAs in curation studies at Central Saint Martins, came up with the concept at a friend’s party shortly after the announcement of the EHRC’s interim guidance (which proposed a raft of extreme trans-exclusionary measures). “We thought, wouldn’t it be good to stage an exhibition of art by trans people who are angry right now?” says Hayward. “There’s so much talk about trans joy, which is important, but we felt like there was a space for trans and nonbinary people to be angry, especially because there’s so much pressure on us to be pleasing to the outside world and not too scary.”
Both Pond and Hayward view the exhibition as an opportunity to educate. “It’s really important that trans voices are heard right now, because let’s be honest, the agenda is so warped,” says Lee. “People perceive trans people as predatory and nonbinary people as confused – doing this exhibition is a way of challenging those narratives.” Chats Palace – a venue in Homerton – offered them the space for free after seeing them post about the concept on social media, and they have received support from several trans-led non-profits, including TransActual, My Genderation and the Beaumont Trust, making the exhibition a real community effort.
Most of the artists on display are younger trans people, although there’s a decent age range, says Hayward. In the months leading up to the exhibition, they put out an open call for submissions, which involved word-of-mouth, plastering posters around CMS and “flyering like crazy” at LDN QUEER MART, an arts fair held at Deptford Lounge. They didn’t want to be prescriptive about how artists interpreted the theme. Some of the pieces are political in the most direct and explicit sense, while others are more personal. Moses, a friend of theirs, contributed a photographic self-portrait – see header – he took right before getting top surgery: “He’s sitting back in a chair, smoking a cigarette and covered in glitter, which he compared to wearing armour – it’s a beautiful image,” says Sunny. Each piece will be exhibited alongside a short piece of writing by the artist, many of which reflect on the challenges they face at a moment of intense transphobic backlash.
There will be around 19 pieces in total, with the exhibition incorporating sculpture, painting, video, photography and a performance piece which, staged live at the private view, will be screened throughout the run. Alongside the work of individual artists, TransActual has loaned them the “trans toilet”, a found object, decorated in the colours of the trans flag, which has been making its way around trans pride events across the country to protest Britain’s proposed bathroom bans. My Genderation has submitted a video series which recounts the stories of trans people from all walks of life, and someone has donated a set of needles which they have used to inject testosterone.
Hayward, who is currently writing their thesis on the power of female rage, considers rage to be a useful political tool. “You see it among the gay community in the post-Aids crisis era, when many gay people gave up on trying to convince the world they were just like everyone else, and instead said, ‘If you won’t accept me for who I am, I’m going to be as authentically myself as I can.’ I think something similar is happening within the trans community today: we’re realising that you do have to be loud, you do have to fight and you do have to be angry, because our rights are being systematically stripped away from us,” they say.
“The important thing for both of us is that we don’t see rage as a destructive entity – it’s not just about tearing things down,” agrees Pond. “Instead, it’s an opportunity to confront oppression and channel it into transformative art. It’s important that people take their rage and turn it into something beautiful and life-changing: not just for themselves, but to make the world a better place too.”
Pond and Hayward both feel humbled by the level of support the project has received so far, and they plan for Trans Rage to become an annual event. “We are only just starting our journey,” says Lee. “This is going to be the first of a long line of artistic pursuits which spearhead conversations that need to be had.”
Trans Rage will run at Chat’s Palace, London, from 25-27 July, 2025.
