20th Biennale of Sydney Transition Talks series

Screening and discussion: On gender, borders and precarity

20^th Biennale of Sydney Transition Talks series

107 Projects

This talk in the 20^th Biennale of Sydney Transition Talks series looks at the politics of transition and precarity, from gender to migration. Inspired by the work of Alexandra Rodríguez Durán, a Mexico City-based activist and artist, this talk led by Latin American scholar Dr Vek Lewis intermingles clips from Rodríguez Durán’s performances and discussions with the artist about her work with El/La para Translatinas, an AIDS-prevention and social support group for Latina trans women located in San Francisco.

Alexandra Rodríguez Durán (Alexandra Byerly), born in Mexico City, is a gender and sexuality freelance consultant and an activist and advocate for Human Rights of LGBTQI individuals. Her passion is to fight for transgender individuals’ rights, and equality for all humankind. Alexandra is very proud to be part of the LGBTQI population in Mexico and around the globe and she is currently working on many personal projects, including her memoir called ‘Crucé La Frontera en Tacones’ (I Crossed The Border in High Heels), writing for various publications and doing some advocacy work for transgender individuals and sex workers’ rights in the U.S., Mexico, Spain and Latin America.

Vek Lewis is author of the book Crossing Sex and Gender in Latin America (New York: Palgrave, 2010) and has published in several academic journals including Sexualities (UK), PORTAL Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies. Revista Cuicuilco, and Journal of Intercultural Studies. He is Senior Lecturer in Latin American Studies at University of Sydney and is managing editor of the Journal of Iberian and Latin American Research.

Image caption: Mural in Mexico City, Centro Histórico