Kama La Mackerel

**Kama La Mackerel** be a Mauritian-Canadian multidisciplinary artist, activist, translator, den community organizer who resides insyd Montreal, Quebec. Their artistic practice moves between theatre, dance, spoken word den written poetry, watercolours, photography, performance, sculpture den installation. Working across multiple disciplines, La Mackerel's work explores their identity as a trans femme of colour hu reaches back beyond de immediate constraints of de colonial circumstances of their life to de spiritual ancestral lineages of queer femmes.  
## Early life den education
Dem born La Mackerel insyd Pamplemousses, Mauritius where they grow up insyd a Hindu den Catholic family. De first of their family to attend university, at de age of eighteen, they move go India to pursue a Bachelor insyd Literature den Cultural Studies at de University of Pune, India. While insyd India they san study den train insyd contemporary dance den Kathak, de latter under de mentorship of Nandkishore Kapote. Insyd 2008 they immigrate to Canada where they complete a Master's degree insyd Theory, Culture den Politics at Trent University insyd Peterborough, Ontario. Insyd 2011 they move go Montreal, where they actively begin to pursue their artistic interests.
## Community Organizing
La Mackerel's experience of not finding queer community spaces dat were hospitable to trans people of colour, lead dem to create community events den spaces dat center 2SLGBTQ+ people.
### Gender B(l)ender (2013-2018)
Insyd 2013, responding to de lack of queer-friendly open mic spaces insyd Montreal, La Mackerel found *Gender B(l)ender*, a monthly open mic/cabaret event wey dey hold on de last Friday of every month. Venues include at Café l’Artère den librairie L’Euguélionne. Over a 5 year period La Mackerel organize den host 40 editions of de event wich get over 600 performances. Performers include Asher Lionheart, Iyan Hayadi, Jespa Jacob Smith, Roxane Nadeau, Kim Ninkuru, Tranna Wintour, Valerie Bah, Kai Cheng Thom.
### Self-Love Cabaret: L'Amour se conjugue à la première personne (2012-2016)
Running for four years between 2012 den 2016, de Self-Love Cabaret be an anti-valentine, artistic event wich seek to challenge de dominant, heteronormative den consumerist holiday of coupledom: Valentine's Day by showcasing creative expressions of self-love.
### Contemporary Poetics of Trans Women of Colour Artists (2018)
Curate den facilitate by La Mackerel, dis event bring together six trans women of colour artists: Arielle Twist, Kai Cheng Thom, Kim Ninkuru, Adri Almeida, Gwen Benaway den La Mackerel.
### Speak B(l)ack: A Black History Month spoken word show den open mic (2017-2019)
Part of McGill University's Black History Month events, *Speak B(l)ack* dey host by La Mackerel den get performers such as Stephanie Lawrence, Kim Ninkuru, den Shanice Nicole.
## Interdisciplinary Arts Practice
While La Mackerel wey chaw dey bell for their debut poetry collection *ZOM-FAM*, their creative practice moves between dance, theatre, photography, sculpture, textiles, digital arts den video. La Mackerel be a self-taught artist den their practice emerges from a need to survive den find methods for navigating patriarchal colonial violence, den DIY grassroots cultural practices like zine-making, YouTube tutorials, open mic nights. Major projects include *From Thick Skin to Femme Armour, Breaking de Promise of Tropical Emptiness, 'Race' is a Drag!, My Body is the Ocean, Bois d'Ébène.*
### ''<nowiki/>'RACE' IS A DRAG!'' (2012)
Through a series of impromptu public performances, during de summer of 2012, La Mackerel produced *<nowiki/>'Race' is a Drag! -* a series of photographs dat document de artist through their process of reclaiming public space. Most notable be de way de photographs capture de reactions of passersby whose gaze carries heterosexist den racist microaggressions trans women regularly experience.
### ''From Thick Skin to Femme Armour'' (2016)
*From Thick Skin to Femme Armour* be a extend multidisciplinary research art project wich honours trans women den femme of colour resistance den resilience. De project get toure insyd Europe insyd 2016 as a spoken word solo show. De project involves watercolours, textiles plus text, photographs, video den a series of wearable objects.
### ''Breaking the Promise of Tropical Emptiness: Trans subjectivity in the Mauritian postcard''
Insyd dis series of fifteen photographs, wey take by South-African writer den scholar Nedine Moonsamy, La Mackerel challenges de way postcards contribute to colonial framing of tropical spaces as empty lands to colonize. De artist poses their body against scenic Mauritian vistas, reinscribing their trans body onto their native island.
### ''ZOM-FAM''
Insyd 2020 La Mackerel publish their debut poetry collection *ZOM-FAM* plus Metonymy Press to wide acclaim. De title be a Mauritian Kreol term denoting "man-woman." De work consists of eight poems wich were originally compose as spoken word pieces dat eventually becam de material of a solo stage performance. De decision to move from spoken word to theatrical stage performance be prompt by a desire to create chaw texture insyd de work through movement, ritual den embodiment. As de poems migrate from stage to page, La Mackerel carry de stage movement over into de written poetry by using de page as a stage den allowing de words to break plus traditional poem stanzas den envisioning de words as de body den de page as de stage. Written insyd Canada, de poems explore de artist's experience of growing up on de island of Mauritius, insyd particular their relationship to land, water, family, language, den gender within, den insyd resistance to, de ideological den material framing of de island's colonial history. While written primarily insyd English, de poems pay tribute to de ancestral languages of de island, using Kreol den Mauritian colloquialisms wich grow from de interrelations of English, Kreol, French, Bhopuri, Tamil, Hindi. De island den de ocean dey situate at de heart of de work den lay de foundation for La Mackerel's poetic excavation of ancestral femme lineages connecting dem to their femme spirituality. Insyd de summer of 2021 de book be launch insyd Mauritius den be hail as de first publish work of queer Mauritian literature. De cover art of de book be make by Aun Li den Kai Yun Ching.
## Translation
La Mackerel focuse their translation on works by Canadian Anglophone trans women writers. Titles they have translate include Vivek Shraya's *I'm Afraid of Men* () den Kai Cheng Thom's *From the Stars in the Sky to the Fish in the Sea* () den *Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars: A Dangerous Trans Girl's Confabulous Memoir* ().

Their 2023 translation of Valérie Bah's *[[The Rage Letters]]* be shortlist  for de 2024 Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Fiction.
## Awards
La Mackerel be a recipient of a Canada Council for de Arts Joseph S. Stauffer prize for emerging artists den be shortlist as a finalist for de Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ Canadian writers insyd 2021.

## References