Marginalization in affective relationships, in the teaching environment, in the job market and in public policies is a reality for transsexual and transvestite people in Brazil. But this daily cruelty should not be the defining face of trans identity in the social imaginary. Overcoming stigmatization is one of the essential steps for the humanization of these bodies. Therefore, initiatives that give visibility to positive images of trans people, placing them as protagonists and producers of knowledge, art and other forms of expression, must be encouraged, supported and publicized.
It is with this in mind that the “Grafita!Trans” project was born in the Federal District. Using art as a transformation tool, the initiative intends to fight for the right to the city and be a professionalization instrument for trans people from the DF periphery, producing employability conditions and a sense of collectivity.
:: At the top of the list for 13 years, Brazil remains the country that most kills trans people in the world ::
“We want to bring trans visibility printed on the city’s architecture as a way to echo voices, art, and generate opportunities for those people who are systematically excluded from society, planting a seed for many others to empower themselves and transform their narratives. Not only those who participate in the project, but also the people who have contact with the result of the same in a virtual way. We are going to reduce the situation of social exclusion in which this group is inserted”, explains Klaus Antônio Miranda, student of tourism, socio-educator, trans graffiti artist and creator of the project.
living on the sidelines
The employability of trans people in Brazil, one of the central points of the project, presents worrying data. According to an estimate by the National Association of Transvestites and Transsexuals (Antra), 90% of the trans population works in the informal labor market, in the so-called underemployment.
This is, to a large extent, a reflection of another form of exclusion experienced by these people: school dropout. With an education that is not at all diverse and inclusive and professionals omitted to transphobia, many schools become an environment of discrimination and suffering. Antra estimates that 70% of transgender people drop out of formal basic education and do not complete secondary education. Only 0.02% reach higher education.
All these obstacles to a dignified life interact and produce a situation of extreme social vulnerability. As a result, in 2022, Brazil, for another year, figured as the country that most kills transgender people in the world.
According to “Dossiê: murders and violence against Brazilian transvestites and transsexuals in 2022”, produced by ANTRA, 131 trans people were murdered last year in Brazil. The number represents an increase of 126% compared to 2008, the year in which the NGO Transgender Europe (TGEU) began global monitoring.
According to the ANTRA survey, the Federal District ranks 21st in the ranking of trans murders by state, with two occurrences. In 2021, the DF was in 18th, also with two occurrences. Goiás is among the 10 states that most murdered trans people from 2017 to 2022, with 33 cases.
art saves
According to the creator of the project, Grafita!Trans emerges as a tool that generates possibilities for the professionalization and creation of collectives. The objective is to enable the participating people to use graffiti as a form of expression and income generation.
“Grafita!Trans was born not only as a way to bring graffiti to people in peripheral cities of the Federal District, but also as a factor of awareness regarding the claim of urban spaces, of the community in favor of the many trans identities that did not have the opportunity of being inserted in that context, and as a way of disseminating graffiti as an instrument of professionalization”, she explains.
With the support of the FAC (Culture Support Fund), the DF Culture Secretariat, and the Samambaia Cultural Complex, the project will offer a cycle of workshops addressing themes about professionalization, graffiti techniques and transgenderism.
In all, fifteen trans people living in peripheral cities of the DF were selected to participate in the activities. People who participate in the project will receive didactic material, spray kits for practice and a stipend. As a final result of the project, three murals will be produced in the city of Samambaia.
“Graffiti is a movement that seeks to occupy and redefine the urban space as a community space, of respect and appreciation of street thinkers. The reality within graffiti needs to be thought of in an aggregating way for people from peripheral communities, raising awareness and bringing to light the purpose of this artistic manifestation: to give voice to those who are silenced in so many ways”, says the organization.
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Source: BdF Distrito Federal
Editing: Flavia Quirino
