Description: Essays, conversations, and archival investigations explore the paradoxes, limitations, and social ramifications of trans representation within contemporary culture.
Brief description: Reina Gossett is an artist, activist, and 2017 Activist in Residence at the Barnard Center for Research on Women. She directed The Personal Things (2016) and, with Sasha Wortzel, wrote, directed, and produced Happy Birthday, Marsha! (2017), a short film about legendary performer and activist Marsha P. Johnson.
Review Quotes: As someone who has spent her life seeking reflections of myself in visual and print media, this anthology by my dear friend Reina Gossett was a salve, helping me unpack the images I've taken in of myself as a trans woman -- and the ones I am creating through my own writings and Pose.--Sarah Karlan, BuzzFeed--
The texts collected here chart new ways to tell our stories, to represent ourselves, our art, our archives, and our futures.
--Paris Review--Trap Door is an essential tome that focuses loosely on work by trans-identified artists and the paradoxes inherent within it. The book is "resistant to the canonization of trans art," as its editors note in an introduction, and the writings and interviews included in an expansive anthology--showcasing figures such as Chris E. Vargas, Geo Wyeth, Wu Tsang, Park McArthur, and Constantina Zavitsanos--provide valuable ways of redefining what a canon might entail.
--ArtNews--