Kay Ulanday Barrett,

DePaul University, US.

Kay Ulanday Barrett is a published poet, performer, educator, food blogger, cultural worker, and transgender, gender non-conforming, and disability advocate based in New York and New Jersey.

 

Barrett’s writing and performance centres on the experience of queer, transgender, people of colour, mixed race people, Asian, and Filipino community. The focus of their artistic work navigates multiple systems of oppression in the context of the U.S.

 

Dedicated to community-driven cultural and movement building work, they have served on committees, led workshops, and featured with many organisations dedicated to the self-determination of Transgender, People of Color, and Queer People of Color.

 

Barrett has been an educator teaching poetry, spoken word, theatre, slam poetry, and cultural work at various high schools and organisations nationwide. Their latest endeavours include workshops that centres experiences of intersectionality, social justice, disability and chronic illness, and martial arts. Universities and organisations alike seek their work to address issues of marginalised identities and cultural work as movement building strategy.

 

consider the gender spectrum

“I know what it is to be broken and be bold

Tell you that my silver is gold”

– Moses Sumney

 

when all your skin / reads trespass / reads not worth a piss /

literally / reads not even worth excrement / reads good enough to not be

dead / maybe if she sleeps with me / i am trained to think / pity

 

once / a man spat in my face / kicked / my cane / touched his

dick like a small itch / i erased into words like / dyke she-man die die /

you’re never going to be / real / he says

 

i cannot tell you what that does / to a person / how dreams

sew shut / this exchange is dizzy surgeon on wound / life is abscess

and you are / stitches that just stay / unhealed / in the right light

 

as i was saying / another dude pushed me / stalked me for blocks until

i turned the corner / and faked a call on my / cell phone

that guy said / you don’t have any friends / and he wasn’t wrong exactly

 

i am not a real man / this doesn’t happen to / everybody right

to be real / doesn’t mean a war to meet someone’s / parents or

to wear a shirt at the mall / because what is your love / but shame / worthy

 

this world / makes me feel that way / no matter the / constellation

of well intentioned quotes / or rainbow like buttons / no words can be barrier /

for night terrors so i make / like a flicker / smile at parties / which is a lie really

 

for wanting / to be here / which is the scapegoat / of something

larger / says my therapist / and he quotes me throwing fire / back

to my heart / when all I want is to be melted / not almost ashes /

another dark poem / says another editor / and i think

this is nothing / i have a therapist at least / picture an alley / where

your legs are tangled to / dumpster groans / and if actually reported on

 

the news / they jam you between a funny bird story / and a partly sunny

forecast / and for fifteen seconds the anchor / doesn’t blink and

bet you / they get that your name wrong / again / hash tag here.

 

I am a mixed media artist and sculptor from Reading, Berkshire and the founder of Black British Visual Artists. I worked as a bespoke textile & interior designer for 12 years before deciding to leave the corporate design world to return to my first love – art.

 

I studied art and design at London Guildhall University (Sir John Cass School of Art) and it has always been my goal and my passion to share my art with the world. My work is inspired by many things; ancestry, emotions, mental health, self-acceptance and healing. I love to create artwork that speaks to people on a personal level – each piece has its own journey and story. I believe that every piece I create will resonate with someone, somewhere.

 

I am a strong advocate of art as a form of creative therapy and I strongly believe that engaging in art – whether in a creative capacity or a voyeuristic role – has a beneficial effect on our mental health and personal wellbeing.

 

Helpful Resources

Shades of Noir – Mental Health & Creative Healing – issuu.com/shadesofnoir

Centrepieces Mental Health Arts Charity – centrepieces.org

Black and Asian Therapists Network – baatn.org.uk

Our Naked Truths (Life Art Therapy Sessions) – @ournakedtruths