MOTHA ART AWARDS
Press Release:
It is a great honor to present the awardees of the first annual 2013 MOTHA Art Awards! With just under 2700 votes and over 400 nominees throughout all categories, the individuals and the projects listed below have been chosen to be recognized for their outstanding contributions to the transgender cultural landscape, as it currently exists at this very specific time (2013ish) and place (North America, mostly).
AWARDEES *
Artists of the Year
Laverne Cox | Caldwell Linker | Amos Mac
Performers of the Year
Ivan Coyote | Red Durkin
Stage Productions of the Year
F.A.G.G.O.T.S. the musical | The Fully Functional Cabaret
Transition Vlogs of the Year
Red Durkin | We Happy Trans
Writers of the Year, Literary
Imogen Binnie | Kate Bornstein | Ivan Coyote
Writers of the Year, Critical
Janet Mock | Dean Spade
Artist Books/Publications of the Year
Nevada by Imogen Binnie | Original Plumbing magazine
Musicians of the Year
Big Freedia | KOKUMO | Rae Spoon
Hirstorians of the Year
Susan Stryker | Transgriot.blogspot.com
Archives of the Year
Center for Sex and Culture | Trans Oral History Project
Solo Exhibitions of the Year
“Body of Work” Heather Cassils |
“HAG–small, contemporary, haggard” Vaginal Davis
Group Exhibitions of the Year
“Queers in Exile: the Unforgotten Legacies of LGBTQ Homeless Youth” curated by Alexis Heller | “Twat/fest” - Trans Women’s Arts Toronto Festival
Art Film/Video of the Year
MAJOR! | She Gone Rogue | Wildness
New Upcoming Artists of the Year
Hannah Barrett | Erika Bijeljic | Imogen Binnie | KOKUMO | Morgan M. Page
Unrecognized Artists of the Year, Hermit
Malic Amalya | Elliott DeLine | Raphaële Frigon | Nicki Green | Dalice Malice | H. Melt | Mirha-Soleil Ross | Thu Ha Vu | Tobaron Waxman | Quito Ziegler
Unrecognized Artists of the Year, Too Busy Surviving
Ben McCoy | Chelsea Manning | Morgan Sea
THE NOMINATION & VOTING PROCESS The award nomination period, which took place across September and October 2013, and the voting period, which occurred over the entire month of November 2013, were open to all who desired to participate. Voters were asked to make their choices based on their own thoughtful and thorough research of every single nominee in each category, and not to be motivated by nepotism or coercion. Ultimately, winners were selected because of their merit, because of their own enthusiastic online campaigning, because they were the most recognizable name on the list, or a combination of all of the above. The MOTHA Awards seek to highlight transgender contributions to our current cultural landscape while also highlighting the limitations inherent in such a system of competition, exclusion, tokenism, and positive-image pandering.
LETTER OF RECkoning In gratitude for participation the Executive Director of MOTHA has written a blank customizable letter of recommendation for use by all nominees and awardees. It is available HERE.
AN ARCHIVE OF NOMINEES Nominees are invited to email MOTHA sfmotha@gmail.com with links to their online portfolios or personal web sites. That list will be compiled and made public, for posterity, here on the MOTHA web site.
* Awardees receive nothing but the title, and must determine for themselves if and to what extent it signifies recognition of the merit of their work. Due to the close number of votes in most instances, no distinction has been made between winners and finalists.