Black Queer Creativity: A Celebration of Queer Visual Art in 2026

Black History Month and Pride have both passed for 2026, but that doesn’t mean it’s time to stop celebrating our peers and educating ourselves! Spanning visual, literary, and cinematic formats, Tran Magazine has assembled a collection of some of our favorite and most impactful artworks centering queer Black creatives.

VISUAL ARTS

For visual arts we start with NYC-local Lyle Ashton Harris’ ‘OUR FIRST AND LAST LOVE’, while the Rose Art Museum and Queens Museum exhibitions are no longer showing, the accompanying book/exhibition catalog of the same name is still available for purchase and borrowing! The exhibition incorporates work from throughout Harris’ career, including his new series Shadow Works, which features personal photography and ephemera set into Ghanaian funerary textiles.https://s.turbifycdn.com/aah/artbook/lyle-ashton-harris-our-first-and-last-love-45.gif

Another New York City-based project is the art photography book REVOLUTION IS LOVE: A YEAR OF BLACK TRANS LIBERATION by and of Black Trans Liberation Kitchen, published by Aperture. Documenting the first year of BTLK’s weekly actions, the imagery within REVOLUTION IS LOVE showcase not only trans resistance and survival, but also trans joy, success, love, and, ultimately, community. For another work with similar themes we also recommend the beautiful public mural on the outside of the Queens Museum: Black, Trans, & Alive (Qweens Song), which features BTLK leader Qween Jean alongside Ceyenne Doroshow, Joela Rivera, Joshua Allen, Raquel Willis, and Aariana Rose Philip. https://store.thepolygon.ca/cdn/shop/files/RevolutionisLoveSpread1_1200x1200.jpg?v=1699400355

An iconic piece of video art, Arthur Jafa’s LOVE IS THE MESSAGE, THE MESSAGE IS DEATH is a cosmic and religious masterpiece. While there is a content warning for footage of police violence, this work has cemented itself as a monumental work of Black art; one which depicts ballroom as a spiritual form of embodied communal expression akin to gospel singing in church, and intersperses selfies of Jafa’s collaborator Tourmaline, as images of Black trans self-making, both in their materiality as selfies and their subject matter of an artist whose transition is essential to their practice and understanding of the world. https://www.culturetype.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/love_is_the_message.jpg

Of course, Tourmaline is an iconic, successful, and impactful artist in her own right, one whose work, as will be seen in this list, transcends genres and media. One of our favorite of her pieces is the video art piece/short film SALACIA, an archivally inspired depiction of Black trans sex worker Mary Jones, who lived in New York in the 1800s. SALACIA places Mary Jones in Seneca Village, a contemporaneous New York settlement which was one of the only areas in the city where Black homeownership was considered legal. Archival research and Tourmaline’s raw creativity come together to create a beautiful piece of art exploring liberation for Black trans folks. https://media.tate.org.uk/art/images/work/T/T15/T15683_10.jpg

Another past exhibition in NYC which is immortalized in an exhibition catalog is Sadie Barnette’s LEGACY AND LEGEND, published by the Benton Museum at Pomona College. With iconic venue The Kitchen as the background, Barnette recreated her father’s gay bar: The Eagle Creek Saloon. In addition to his more known accomplishment of founding the Compton chapter of the Black Panther, Rodney Barnette also ran the Bay Area’s first Black-owned gay bar. Barnette’s LEGACY AND LEGEND includes a re-production of paper ephemera from the bar bound into the book, in addition to work from Barnette’s other projects which focus on her father’s work as a Black Panther.https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e7ed66065d1771eb7620eaada057a9927dda1ac7fa1c7ae2d1993456616ffe25/IBG_7693.jpg

A regular in Tran Magazine, we must mention Vaginal Davis, the Berlin-based Black intersex creative who recently stunned New York City with her exhibit MAGNIFICENT PRODUCT at MoMA PS1. While we of course recommend the accompanying exhibition catalog, we want to focus on her recent publication with Bierke, ON DANGEROUS GROUND. The publication is just as colorful as her recent exhibition, with photographs and ephemera from her live performances paired with reflections, confessions, and secrets from her collaborators and admirers. https://publicknowledgebooks.com/cdn/shop/files/PKB_1011_bf88cd6a-c1d2-40f3-8cad-70c9defddfb7.jpg?v=1752849585&width=1445

Venturing into new media, we have Jacolby Satterwhite’s exhibition ROOM FOR LIVING, which incorporates c-prints, animation, 3D printed sculptures, and virtual reality experiences. These are made in ‘collaboration’ with his schizophrenic mother, realizing her drawings into technicolor, immersive experiences of queer performance and canonical art history. https://fabricworkshopandmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Room-For-Demoiselle-Two-60-x-45-inches-2019_LR-1.jpg

For our last work of visual art we have the exhibit PREPARE MY HEART by local NYC-born and raised artist, Kia LaBeija. Merging together her work in ballroom as the overall mother of the royal House of LaBeija and her advocacy as a woman of color born with HIV, PREPARE MY HEART spans genres and time periods, creating a beautiful portrait of queer family, love, and community in New York City. https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/63d7832730313da15553e9c9/69bf01fe2b62d1897a33fc83_20260321T0838-18ec4501-228c-46d8-aaec-2689e69a8fa7.jpeg

LITERARY ARTS

First on our list for literary arts is the jaw-droppingly beautiful and literarily stunning poetry collection DON’T CALL US DEAD by Danez Smith, published by Graywolf Press. Reflecting on life, connection, and sensuality as an HIV+ Black gay man, the collection contains one of this curator’s favorite poems ever, ‘TONIGHT, IN OAKLAND’. https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/91bwL4F6M-L._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg

For an essential non-fiction read we cannot recommend enough BLACK ON BOTH SIDES: A RACIAL HISTORY OF TRANS IDENTITY by Riley C. Snorton, published by University of Minnesota Press. Looking at intersections between the histories of Blackness and transness, BLACK ON BOTH SIDES illuminates how racialized and gendered categories are intimately connected and constructed in tandem with each other. https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/91n47GaICHL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg

Particularly in times of anti-trans vitriol and legislation, it is more important than ever to listen to our elders and ancestors who have tirelessly fought for the rights we are seeing stripped away from us. That’s where books like MISS MAJOR SPEAKS: CONVERSATIONS WITH A BLACK TRANS REVOLUTIONARY come into play, published by Verso Books. MISS MAJOR SPEAKS is a collection of interview transcripts between trans icon Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, a participant in the Stonewall Riots and leader of the TGI Justice Project, and journalist Toshio Meronek (her former assistant). Having passed in 2025 at the age of 78, Miss Major’s words and work are more important than ever. https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/719o86TMTWL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg

A fundamental text in the world of Black punk, SHOTGUN SEAMSTRESS: THE COMPLETE ZINE COLLECTION, published by Soft Skull Press, assembles the entire run of Osa Atoe’s iconic underground zine. With cameos from such iconic figures as Vaginal Davis and RuPaul, this collaged celebration of Black creativity and art cannot be missed. https://s37710.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/9781593767396.jpg

The third appearance by the iconic artist Tourmaline, we would be amiss to not recommend her biography of the iconic trans figure, MARSHA: THE JOY AND DEFIANCE OF MARSHA P. JOHNSON, published by Penguin Random House. Already becoming the definitive work of scholarship on Marsha P. Johnson, this thoroughly researched book brings you into the world of Marsha and her accomplices as they push towards liberation. https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81ocbqhLOTL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg

Another beautiful work of poetry, containing many rarely seen gems from small magazines and chapbooks, we cannot recommend enough LOVE IS A DANGEROUS WORD: SELECTED POEMS by Essex Hemphill and published by New Directions. A cult figure based on a few widely circulated works, this is the definitive collection of the Black gay poet who worked through the AIDS epidemic, reflecting the tenderness, sorrow, hope, and rage around him. https://cdn.sanity.io/images/p34gzxcg/production/91fa0659cc9660bad22b83dfd4c98b358282f27e-6225x9600.jpg?auto=format&w=1000

An experimentation in both form and content, Sage Ni’Ja Whitson’s TRANSTRATERRESTRIAL: DARK MATTER AND BLACK DIVINITIES, published by Wesleyan University Press is a documentation of the authors performance art pieces that becomes a poignant work of art in itself. With a Black, queer, and transembodied lens, Whitson’s practice merges traditions of the African diaspora with innovative methodologies and new technologies to imagine and enact liberatory futures. https://www.libraryjournal.com/binaries/content/gallery/Jlibrary/2025/october/book-review-images/transtraterrestrial.jpg

An important examination of the often overlooked work of Black lesbians directors, SISTERS IN THE LIFE: A HISTORY OF OUT AFRICAN AMERICAN LESBIAN MEDIA-MAKING is a collection of essays edited by Yvonne Welbon and Alexandra Juhasz and published by Duke University Press. An excellent accompaniment to the first film on our cinema arts list, this book looks at diverse cinematic practices from experimental films, narrative odysseys, and even feminist porn. https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81LWHM3MiaL._UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg

The last book on our list is another essential work of non-fiction looking at intersections between race and sexuality: THE RAINBOW AIN’T EVER BEEN ENUF: ON THE MYTH OF LGBTQ+ SOLIDARITY by Kaila Adia Story and published by Beacon Press. Story fully dismantles the false idea of full solidarity amidst the queer community, expertly exposing how antiblackness, racism, and transphobia operate as main facets of mainstream liberal queer activism and spaces, and proposing alternatives. https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81rX1r1K04L.jpg_BO30,255,255,255_UF750,750_SR1910,1000,0,C_QL100_.jpg CROP

CINEMA ARTS

Our first list of cinema arts starts off with an iconic and essential piece of viewing, Cheryl Dunye’s THE WATERMELON WOMAN (1996). Not only is this film a historical milestone (the first feature film directed by a black lesbian) but it’s also an incredible work of art, constructing an archive and historical narrative around the invented (but still very much real) actress Fae Richards, a lesbian who played stereotypical ‘mammy’ roles in the 1930s.https://s3.amazonaws.com/criterion-production/films/e62912a5787e9977189e6b3312d372cc/OreLClO5IlDnvu3pFs4oIuzF0qVqAm_large.jpg

Undersung but beautiful in its honest and raw portrayal of transsexuality at a time when ‘cross-dressing’ was illegal, we cannot recommend Joseph Horning’s short VALERIE (1975) enough. Set in the style of cinema-verite, VALERIE follows the eponymous Black trans housewife and sex worker as she discusses her life, career, and desires from her home in Ohio. Watch it for free here. https://a.ltrbxd.com/resized/film-poster/7/4/1/9/5/6/741956-valerie-0-600-0-900-crop.jpg?v=4fecbacac6

Another beautiful, archivally-mediated piece is Isaac Julien’s LOOKING FOR LANGSTON (1989). Mixing together archival footage with scripted scenes, LOOKING FOR LANGSTON paints a portrait of queer life during the Harlem Renaissance, one of America’s most important art movements. Celebrating Langston Hughes as a Black gay man, the film uses Hughes as a metaphor for how race and sexuality were constructed amidst and against one another in 1930s Harlem, New York City. Watch it for free here. https://d7hftxdivxxvm.cloudfront.net/?height=800&quality=85&resize_to=fit&src=https%3A%2F%2Fd32dm0rphc51dk.cloudfront.net%2F9mI9CtbH-htDoNklHUL0HQ%2Fmain.jpg&width=575

A visually and narratively stunning work of cinema, PARIAH (2011) directed by Dee Rees, is one of the most formidable debut films of the 2010s. PARIAH is the story of Black teenager Alike as she comes to terms with her lesbian identity, based on the director’s short film of the same name. Since its debut at Sundance, PARIAH has won countless awards (as it should). https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTM1MTQyNTY3NV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwODk0ODk2Ng@@._V1_.jpg

Next on our list is the experimental film essay by Marlon Riggs TONGUES UNTIED (1989), which focuses on the voices, experiences, and art of Black gay men. Looking at both racism in the queer community and homophobia in the Black community, TONGUES UNTIED dismantles the stereotypes and sexualization which Black gay men face via a multi-genre and non-linear narrative structure. If you need any extra endorsement, TONGUES UNTIED was denounced on the floor of the US Congress, like any good movie. https://s3.amazonaws.com/criterion-production/films/119786d1bbb7875a68be9df9eaaeff41/PJiocQkQ2Bqccfr2fH4ypnmn3zZszH_original.jpg

A documentary unlike most, Sara Jordenö’s KIKI (2016), started when International Mother of the House of Comme Des Garçons Twiggy Pucci Garcon (one of Tran Mag’s 100 Influential TGNCs) invited Jordenö into the kiki ballroom community in NYC. After multiple years of documentation, following the journeys and transitions of multiple members of the kiki scene, Jordeno (with Pucci Garcon as co-writer) created a beautiful and authentic portrait of a community often exploited for representation.https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNWZiM2QzMTctMDg1MC00ZmIzLTliNWUtMTFjNTJkOGQ0NTU4XkEyXkFqcGc@._V1_.jpg

A feminist classic, we would be remiss to not recommend queer director Lizzie Borden’s 1983 docudrama BORN IN FLAMES. Following different activist figures in an alternative history version of the United States, BORN IN FLAMES is a powerful mediation on different feminist movements, including intersectional feminism, and violence as a revolutionary tool.https://s3.amazonaws.com/criterion-production/films/64677d4de467cfb38d91da9d5ad22e61/24dBFgRxjgxAMJh802x8M2JfeEWORM_large.jpg

Technically a web series, HER STORY (2016) directed by Sydney Freeland feels revolutionary in its depiction of everyday life and romance in the lives of two trans women, one Black and one white. While the entire cast and crew stun in this piece, the spotlight is stolen by Angelica Ross as Paige, an attorney representing trans clients. Watch it for free here. https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTkzMTg5MDE4Ml5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwMTY4MjY0NzE@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.jpg

A poetic and cinematic award-winning documentary, THE ARCHIVE: QUEER NIGERIANS (2023) directed by Simisolanoluwa Akande follows five queer Nigerians living in the UK as they provide oral histories of their lives, looking at the intersections of queerness and African identity. https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZWNlZTAyNzItODJmZi00ZTJjLWIyZWMtZWZmY2RhODM1ZGI1XkEyXkFqcGc@._V1_.jpg