Students, staff and community members received a chance to view a multimedia gallery walk in the Holmes Student Center Glass Gallery Lounge, dedicated to honoring the lives and experiences of transgender Huskies.
The display features a variety of pieces including art, video and musical immersive experiences made in part to recognize Transgender Day of Remembrance.
TDOR is an annual occurrence that was made to recognize those transgender people that lost their lives due to acts of violence. The day was started in 1999 by Gwendolyn Smith after the murder of Rita Hester, a transgender woman in Boston, Massachusetts, whose death remains unsolved.
The aim of the gallery experience is to remember those who are no longer with us and to embrace our fellow Huskies, including students, staff a
nd faculty members, who identify as transgender and better understand their lived experiences.
Some students are happy to see such events on campus.
“Regardless of if you are queer or an ally, Transgender Day of Remembrance events show the gravity of the situation of violence against trans individuals,” said Meghan Harms, a senior psychology major.
Harms went on to iterate that while Illinois may be a bit safer than other places, it is still important to recognize this issue of violence.
“We have the privilege of not seeing the issue happening immediately in front of us, which can make it easy to forget that safety is not a reality for the majority of trans individuals. Transgender Day of Remembrance brings those issues front and center to where we can’t ignore it,” Harms said.
This display was made in part with students enrolled in the Transgender Studies course and is co-sponsored by the Center for the Study of Women, Gender and Sexuality and the Gender and Sexuality Resource Center.
The art pieces featured a variety of colorful paintings, paper flowers, puzzle pieces with words on them in the colors of the transgender flag and QR codes for video and music informed by the artists’ own lived experiences.
Max Tuttle, a transgender studies student and creator of the puzzle pieces, explained in an artist statement that colors of the pieces represent masculinity, femininity and androgyny and the words show the positive traits transgender people have.
“Trans people receive too much hate for being bold enough to bypass societal norms and live how they need to. We are just trying to find contentment and meaning during our short time on this planet,” Tuttle said.
Tuttle also stated the importance of seeing the humanity of transgender people and that exhibits like this one will help to end bigotry and discrimination.
All NIU community members are encouraged to visit and interact with the displays.
The gallery will be open from 8 a.m. to noon Thursday.
