Trans Hirstory in 99 Objects

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The new book Trans Hirstory in 99 Objects is a project of artist Chris E. Vargas's Museum of Trans Hirstory & Art (MOTHA), a conceptual art project that is "forever under construction." Exploring trans art, activism, artifacts, and resistance across more than four centuries, Trans Hirstory in 99 Objects does away with the patriarchy and instead charts a gender-neutral, trans-centric hirstory of art. Vargas is joined by book contributors, editors, and artists Zackary Drucker, David Evans Frantz, Edgar Fabián Frías, Raquel Gutiérrez, Christina Linden, Amos Mac, and Uri McMillan, to celebrate, discuss, and perform trans and non-binary magic; celebrity and activism; and trans-masc hirstories. Copies of the book will be available for purchase.

Zackary Drucker is an American multimedia artist, director, and producer who has dedicated her work to telling stories that expand our cultural understanding of difference. Her credits include directing the Hulu Original documentary Queenmaker: The Making of an It Girl; and co-directing the Sundance award-winning HBO original documentary film The Stroll and the HBO documentary series The Lady and the Dale. She has performed and exhibited her work internationally in museums, galleries, and film festivals including the Whitney Biennial 2014, MoMA PS1, Hammer Museum, Art Gallery of Ontario, MCA San Diego, and SF MoMA, among others.

David Evans Frantz is an independent curator based in Los Angeles. He has previously held curatorial positions at ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives at the USC Libraries, the Palm Springs Art Museum, and the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art. He is co-editor with Christina Linden and Chris E. Vargas of the book Trans Hirstory in 99 Objects, a publication of the Museum of Trans Hirstory & Art (MOTHA). He recently organized with C. Ondine Chavoya the exhibition Teddy Sandoval and the Butch Gardens School of Art, a collaboration between Independent Curators International (ICI), the Vincent Price Art Museum, and the Williams College Museum of Art.

Edgar Fabián Frías works in installation, photography, video art, sound, sculpture, printed textiles, GIFs, performance, social practice, and community organizing, among other forms. Their art addresses historical legacies and acts of resistance, resiliency, and radical imagination within the context of Indigenous Futurism, spirituality, play, pedagogy, animism, and queer aesthetics.

Raquel Gutiérrez is an award-winning critic, essayist, poet, and educator based in Southern Arizona. Gutiérrez’s first book Brown Neon (Coffee House Press) was named one of the best books of 2022 by The New Yorker and listed in the Best Art Books of 2022 by Hyperallergic.

Christina Linden’s professional practice spans the fields of museum work, public engagement, and higher education. Throughout, she strives to support social relevancy and create platforms and access for underrepresented voices and audiences. She is one of the co-editors of the book Trans Hirstory in 99 Objects, and the Director of Academic and Public Programs at the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University.

Amos Mac is an out trans artist, writer, and co-founder of Original Plumbing magazine. Amos has written and produced for television on shows including Gossip Girl, Clean Slate, and Gaycation and co-wrote No Ordinary Man, a documentary about the complicated jazz man and trans icon Billy Tipton.

Uri McMillan is a writer based in Los Angeles. He has published essays in Women & Performance: a journal of feminist theory, GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies, ASAP/Journal, and museum/gallery-based publications for the Studio Museum in Harlem, Aperture Foundation, MCA Chicago, and the Brooklyn Museum.

Chris E. Vargas is a video maker & interdisciplinary artist, an artist, the founder of the Museum of Trans Hirstory and Art, and co-editor of Trans Hirstory in 99 Objects. His work deploys humor and performance to explore the complex ways that queer and trans people negotiate spaces for themselves within historical and institutional memory and popular culture. He is a recipient of a 2016 Creative Capital award and a 2020 John S. Guggenheim fellowship.