DarkMatter was an art and activist collaboration between Janani Balasubramanian and

Alok Vaid-Menon Alok Vaid-Menon (born July 1, 1991, stylized ALOK) is an American writer, performance artist, and media personality. Vaid-Menon is gender non-conforming and transfeminine, and uses the singular they, singular ''they'' third person pronouns. Vai ...

, known for their

spoken word Spoken word is an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a 20th-century continuation of an oral tradition, ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetic ...

performances and

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are non-heterosexual or non- cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against LGBTQ people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to ...

trans Trans- is a Latin prefix meaning "across", "beyond", or "on the other side of". Used alone, trans may refer to: Sociology * Trans, a sociological term which may refer to: ** Transgender, people who identify themselves with a gender that di ...

South Asian South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...

themes.

Background

Balasubramanian and Vaid-Menon, both

Indian American Indian Americans are Americans whose ancestry originates wholly or partly from India. The terms Asian Indian and East Indian are used to avoid confusion with Native Americans in the United States, Native Americans in the United States, who ar ...

, met as students at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

in 2009. They later joined the Stanford Slam Poetry Team and performed in spoken word venues like C.U.P.S.I. (College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational) and other college circuit slams. The duo cite a lack of representation of South Asian poets, especially queer and/or trans South Asian poets, as an impetus for their decision to form DarkMatter and tour independently starting in 2013. Much of their poetry and activism is inspired by the lack of visibility for QTPOC (queer/trans people of color), The name DarkMatter was chosen to reflect that invisibility. Both poets decided to finish school and move to New York, making that the center for their art and activism after their first tour in 2013. As a duo, they ran performances, workshops, and speeches for many different community groups. In 2017, they announced they were "bringing DarkMatter to a close as a collaboration in order to dedicate ourselves wholly to our solo art practices."

Poetry

The poets draw inspiration from various sources, including their own emotional journeys, and the perpetuation of privilege and oppression within

activism Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make Social change, changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from ...

. Vaid-Menon began writing poetry in middle school, focusing largely on their emotional experience and developing into more externally political themes in college; Balasubramanian entered poetry as a freshman when Vaid-Menon brought them to their first poetry slam at Stanford. They see their performance as inherently political. One main topic that they seek to challenge is the concept of "

homonationalism Homonationalism is the selective acceptance of LGBTQ+ people in order to promote a nationalist ideology. It describes a phenomenon in which some nations strategically show increased support for LGBTQ+ rights as a means of reinforcing racial, r ...

" and the violence and oppression done to people of color under the guise of queer activism that predominantly benefits white queers. Vaid-Menon describes this phenomenon by saying, "Rather than critiquing state violence the gay rights 'movement' has readily sought to become a part of it." The poets say they were drawn to spoken word and continue to create spoken word art among other forms because of the "long, deep history in black and brown communities in the U.S. as a site of resistance. It is a political form." Their poems bring to light the perpetuation of privilege and oppression within queer communities, exposing how the issues of low-income transgender people of color are being ignored.

Political work

In addition to pursuing activism and social justice through poetry, both artists are engaged in various community organizations and projects dedicated to social justice. Vaid-Menon is the Communications and Grassroots Fundraising coordinator at the Audre Lorde Project, a queer people of color activism organization based in New York.

References

External links

Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:DarkMatter American spoken word artists Transgender entertainers American LGBTQ rights activists Non-binary artists Non-binary activists Year of birth missing (living people)