SAIRA BARBARIC
Seattle, Washington / @very.freaky
Saira Barbaric (they / ze / she / he) is a nonbinary trans, Black queer, cane-leaning writer, performance artist and filmmaker. Saira’s work crafts nuanced representation and genuine exultation of trans people, of disabled people and of black people. A 2013 Costume Design graduate of the BFA program at the Theater School of Depaul University, Saira's visual art works with fabric, paper and collage through Dadaist principles. Saira strives to blend genders and bend genres in their films and performance while exploring speculative fiction, erotica, Afropsychedlic and glitch aesthetics.
Since 2015, Saira has shown performance and short films in Athens, Greece; Rome, Italy; over 13 cities in the United States and three cities in Canada. Stories of trauma are too often the focus of entertainment populated by the multiply marginalized. Our stories are too often told by those outside with more privilege who have little empathy or understanding of our realities. Saira is invested in making worlds to pursue the possibilities of aesthetically specific, physically integrated afrofutures. Saira is a coordinator for Night Crush, a queer dance party Seattle staple; a producer at Mouthwater Dance, an emerging dance and media company as well as a co-founder of Scumtrust Productions, a nonbinary porn project.