Golden
Golden (they/them) is a black gender-nonconforming trans-femme photographer and poet raised in Hampton, VA, currently residing in Boston. Utilizing their lifelong proximity to bullying, homophobia, racism, and transphobia, Golden empowers conversations around trauma work, representation, blackness, Americanisms, and gender identity and expression. Golden is the recipient of a Pink Door Fellowship (2017/2019), an Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Luminary Fellowship (2019), the Frontier Award for New Poets (2019), and a Pushcart Nomination (wildness, 2019). Their work has been featured on/at the Shade Journal, the Offing, wildness, Button Poetry, i-D, Interview Magazine, & elsewhere. Golden holds a BFA in Photography from New York University.
Rita Hester Mural
As conversations around monuments and public art continued across the nation and in Boston, Golden was moving into another phase of their residency. In the fall of 2020, they proposed a mural to honor the life and legacy of Rita Hester, a Black trans woman and beloved Allston community member who lost their life as a result of transphobia and anti-trans violence. The Transgender Day of Remembrance was started by activist Gwendolyn Ann Smith to memorialize Rita Hester and is observed annually across the world on November 20th. This mural proposal to honor Rita Hester will be the first public art piece honoring Rita Hester and others who have lost their lives due to anti-trans violence in the city of Boston.
As a result of Golden’s proposal, the Legacy of Rita Hester and Transgender Day of Remembrance in Allston Mural has been included as a part of the City’s Transformative Public Art Program. MOAC has hired a consultant and is working with community members to bring the mural to fruition.
'WE BEEN HERE': Poetry Month Kickback Series
In response to the current COVID-19 pandemic, Golden hosted "WE BEEN HERE" during National Poetry Month. It served as a virtual artist presentation and kickback series centering around trans and non-binary artists who are engaging with, influenced by, or in conversation with poetry.
This series was a way to compensate trans and non-binary artists internationally who have faced deficits in income due to the pandemic, as well as to create a space where they could converse, share their work, and be.
Transgender and Non-Binary Town Hall
Golden and Feminine Empowerment Movement Slam (FEMS) Founding Director Zenaida Peterson co-hosted a virtual Town Hall in October 2020. The event aimed to discuss the representation of transgender and non-binary individuals in the City of Boston’s policies and processes, with a focus on naming ways the City can better support transgender and non-binary Bostonians.
They collected written and oral testimony specifically from trans, non-binary, genderqueer, and gender-expansive individuals currently living in the Greater Boston area.
